CEBU CITY – The Orchard Golf and Country Club turned to its pair of junior golfers to take the fight out of its closest pursuers and capture the Founders division in the 74th Philippine Airlines Men’s Interclub golf team championships on Saturday.
Just two points ahead of Alabang and Riviera with two more teams within six points before the start of the final round, the Orchard drew a tournament-best 40 points from Zachary Castro and 33 from Tristan Jefferson Padilla to shut the door.
Castro went 4-under at the back where he started before adding two more against two bogeys coming home.
With Hongzheng Lu and Beejay Chua adding 32 and 25, the Orchard amassed 130 points at the Cebu Country Club to cruise to a seven-point victory.
Riviera Golf Club struck through Eric Gozo’s 35 and Michael Mendoza’s 34 to take second place with 463 points. Other scorers were King Stehmeier and Richard Salcedo with 28 apiece.
Forest Hills settled for third with 455, drawing a pair of 32s from Augusto Pacheco and Jose Inigo Raymundo, a 31 from Joshua Nicolas Buenaventura and 26 from James Bryan Gosiaco.
It was also a close fight in the third-tier Aviator class with Alta Vista emerging on top with 425 points after closing with 103 points at Club Filipino de Cebu.
Cebu Country Club Team 2 came in second with 421 while Zamboanga took third with 417.
In the Sportswriters bracket, Club Filipino de Cebu posted a runaway 22-point win over South Cotabato, totaling 386 points. Third place went to San Juanico Golf Park with 357 points.
Alta Vista made it two in a row after its second team ruled the Friendship class with 326 points, 27 points ahead of Liloan Golf Club. Apo Golf Orogold Club placed third with 298.
The annual event, held with the theme “Back to Ignite,” was supported by platinum sponsors ABS-CBN Global, Asian Journal, Airbus, and NUSTAR Resort and Casino.
Gold sponsors include Radio Mindanao Network, Mastercard, MemoRieS FM 89.9 Cebu, University of Mindanao Broadcasting Network, PLDT/Smart, and Konsulta MD.
Joining the event as silver sponsors were Philippine National Bank, Biocostech, and VISA.
Minor sponsors were Bollore Logistics, Manila Standard, Tanduay Brands International, and Asia Brewery while donors are the Department of Tourism, Ogawa, Newport World Resorts, Rolls Royce, and Boeing.
The final standings:
Championship – Manila Southwoods 534 (141-133-127-133), Eastridge 521 (127-135-120.139), Cebu 498 (126-130-120-122), Del Monte 482 (113-127-119-123), Tagaytay Highlands 475 (119-113-119-124), Sta Elena 442 (114-88-120-120), Pueblo de Oro 417 (111-101-88-117)
Founders – The Orchard 470 (113-112-115-130), Riviera 463 (114-105-119-125), Forest Hills 456 (111-113-111-121), Negros Occidental 455 (116-94-119-126), Alabang 451 (120-113-105-113), Wack Wack 445 (107-108-119-111), Villamor Air Base 434 (110-102-102-120), Camp John Hay 406 (99-101-100-106), Camp Aguinaldo 399 (120-91-82-106), Team Brookside 386 (99-103-86-100), 89), Apo 377 (90-99-86-102), Southern California Redhawks 377 (109-99-82-102)
Aviators – Alta Vista 425 (101-116-105-103), Cebu Team 2 421 (96-113-115-97), Zamboanga 417 (101-102-108-106), Summit Point 404 (94-103-105-102), Eagle Ridge 390 (86-108-109-87), Rancho Palos Verde 1 385 (76-98-109-102), Manila 380 (95-103-95-91), Tagaytay Midlands 373 (76-98-95-104), Britanikka 1 370 (79-105-94-92), Sherwood Hills 363 (97-94-87-85), Bacolod 337 (61-86-92-98), Fairways and Bluewater 329 (79-91-84-75), Filam Hawaii 329(71-73-96-89), Filam Fairfield 316 (54-89-87-86), Fil-Am Fairway 1 313 (68-84-77-84), Up Tee Jots 311 (82-8573-71), Guinhalaran 310 (72-77-95-66), Iligan 299 (63-81-87-70), Lumbia 288 (65-92-75-56), Golden Gate 283 (73-71-85-54)
Sportswriters – Club Filipino INC de Cebu 386 (102-92-94-98), South Cotabato 364 (83-88-88-105), San Juanico 357 (71-75-95-116), Camp Evangelista 350 (94-82-89-85), Davao City 349 (105-78-73-93), Sarangani Golf 346 (85-96-66-99), South Pacific Davao 344 (77-79-93-95), West Highlands 339 (81-86-84-88), Negros Intl 339 (80-78-89-92), Seattle 335 (75-103-81-76), Filam LA 1 317 (86-79-65-87), The Firm Eagle Ridge 317 (81-85-78-73), Leyte 312 (94-63-82-73), Lanang 309 (72-72-77-88), Filipino in the Middle East Dubai 300 (98-41-91-70), MSU Golf 282 (66-59-66-91), Silicon Valley 227 (59-77-58-83), PGA British Columbia 245 (66-57-59-73), Pearl Kai Hawaii 213 (55-35-57-66), Yokohama Eagles 163 (44-32-47-40)
Friendship – Alta Vista Team 2 326 (81-90-84-71), Liloan 299 (62-81-89-69), Apo Golf Orogold Club 298 (80-71-74-73), Eagle Ridge Lagitek 289 (80-62-65-82), Edwin Andrews Air Base285 (65-76-77-67), Davao Team B 275 (71-70-78-58), Veterans 263 (66-67-70-62), Baguio 259 (59-55-73-72), Paraiso Golf Players Association Team B 247 (68-58-64-59), Van City 246 (75-66-62-43), Green Tee Clun Riyadh245 (52-51-78-66), Filipino Golfers in the Middle East UAE 245 (58-55-83-49), Cotabato 238 (49-70-83-36), Paraiso Golf Players Association 230 (35-60-59-76), Greenhills West 212 (61-62-50-41), Fil-Am Golf Sacramento 211 (40-44-55-72), UAE Filgolfers AUH 202 (41-46-59-56), Mt Malindang 198 (55-49-45-51), Caaga 174 (45-34-42-53), Fil Oz Sydney 64 (16-12-18-18)
Members of Manila Southwoods receive the Championship trophy and flash the No. 1 sign with PAL Board Member David Ong (leftmost) and PAL President and COO Capt. Stanley K. Ng (rightmost) during the 74th PAL Men’s Interclub awards night on Saturday.
Members of the The Orchard Golf & Country Club that won the Founders division receive their trophy from PAL Vice President for Security Gen. Caesar Ronnie Ordoyo (leftmost) and PAL Senior Assistant Vice President Genaro ‘Bong’ Velasquez (rightmost) during the 74th PAL Men’s Interclub awards night on Saturday.