THE ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour was held at Del Monte Golf Club last week. Did you hear what happened? The players in the final flight namely, Elmer Salvador, Richard Sinfuego, and Juvic Pagunsan were disqualified.
Why? Because of a simple mistake of not marking the ball after pitching.
Ouch! I can just imagine how it felt if I were Elmer Salvador. He pitched first from around the 18th green and landed less than a foot from the hole. It was an easy birdie which could have made him win the tournament and receive P 200,000.00. But instead, he ended up with nothing.
Apparently, after he pitched, he walked over to mark his ball, but the two other players told him not to anymore. So he walked back and allowed the other two players to make their shots. After they all holed out, the tournament referee told them they were all disqualified. Pagunsan explained to the referee that he really did tell Salvador not to mark his ball. But according to the rules, regardless of his allowing Salvador not to mark his ball that would still have been a penalty.
With the top three players out, Cassius Casas won the Del Monte Leg of the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour earning P 200,000. In second place were Robert Pactolerin and Angelo Que. In fourth place is Davao's Tony Lascuña.
rA rule is a rule. And in competition, especially when big money is involved, we all must follow the rules of golf. It was very disappointing for the Davao player to lose that way, but, there will be other tournaments. Elmer Salvador accepted his fate, and Sinfuego and Pagunsan accepted their fate as well. It was truly a very painful lesson learned. Why, why, why did he not just tap in his easy birdie after the wonderful pitch he made? I heard that it was just around 6 inches from the hole. Sigh.
What Elmer Salvador felt bad about was that the referee was just standing there. He did not call his attention to mark the ball. Sana man lang the referee advise him to mark the ball or hole out. And when they all holed out, the referee told them that they were disqualified. According to the refereel, if Elmer was not sure about the rules, he should have asked any of the rules officials available. The referee, Henry Arabelo, stood by his decision which was based on Rule 22-6 which is about interfering/assisting in play. Major Ouch!
Congratulations to the top three team teams of the second match of the 2010 Dynasty Cup held at Rancho Palos Verdes last July 24. The second format was Greensomes, whereas the first match (July 17 match) was Best Ball Scramble. Here are the top placers:
1st place - Eagle Master 1 (284) - Lito Dublan, Dodong Ang, Randy Cadiongan, Johan Dalamacio, Joe Tesado, Abe Dizon, Lito Bario, Ralph Garcia, Noe Taojo, Sam Strong
2nd place - Eagle Master 2 (285) - Joe Elises, Nonoy Falcon, Max Salang, Jun Serado, Tony Fanlo, Paul Dakudao, Fred Abundo, Lucio Castillo, Leo Magno, Dennis Capa
3rd place - Amiya (286) - Andrew Bautista, Ed Guevarra, Marc Lopez, Faisal Samanodi, Bill Larousse, Kuresh Samanodi, Bobby Wee, Manny Nittoreda, Noel Yango, Joseph Go
For the Best Ball Scramble match (July 17), the top five teams were the following:
Team Amiya - 20 points
Dream Team - 17 points
Korean Dream Teaam - 16 points
Grupo Verde - 15 points
Tour Jacks - 14 points
For the Greensomes match (July 24), the top five teams were the following:
Eagle Master 1 - 20 points
Eagle Master 2 - 17 points
Team Amiya - 16 points
Korean Red Heroes - 15 points
Tang Dynasty - 14 points
Group Standings after two matches, the top five teams are the following:
Team Amiya - 36 points
Eagle Master 2 - 29 points
Korean Dream Team - 29 points
Eagle Master 1 - 28 points
Dream Team - 27 points
One more match to go, good luck to all the teams in the final match.