By RIC DE VERA
The team of Fil-oz Social Golf Club representing the state of New South Wales finally won the 20th Fil-Aussie Interstate Friendship Golf cup held for four days in Manila on March 3-7, 2014.
The Sydneysiders overtook the Queenslanders only on the last day after overcoming an 18 points lead with final accumulated 776 points as against 767 points by the Queenslanders, who ended up as the state team runner up for the year.
The state champion was awarded the monumental trophy plus P5000 cash courtesy of Travelaccess. ‘We are extremely happy that we got back the championship trophy after so many years” said Arnold Villamayor, the team captain of Fil-oz Social Golf club. “This was really a surprise to me as we were trailing behind during the first three days of the tournament” he finally said.
Individual over-all winners were Troy Pashley (145 points) from Brisbane as champion followed by Sam Akbar (141 points) from Sydney as runner-up. They were awarded monumental trophies and cash prizes donated by Travelaccess of P3000 and P1500, respectively.
For the first time, the format was changed to System 36 for the first two days followed by individual stableford for the last two days. In order to avoid sandbagging, all declared handicaps were used to divide the groups into A, B & C and subject to certain adjustment after two days.
Daily Individual winners (with their scores) who were awarded trophies and cash prizes in their respective divisions were as follows:
Day one – Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club – Greg Norman Course
Champions: Brad Thompson (38) for A; Poly Magpantay (36) for B and Iggy Quinto (37) for C.
Runners Up: Tony Magnaye (38) for A; Sunny Punj (36) for B and Marino Salinas (36) for C.
Day two – Ayala Greenfields Golf and Country club
Champions: Noel Martir (40) for A; Peter Davis (37) for B and Jerry Rodriguez (35) for C.
Runners Up: Troy Pashley (38) for A; Rey Saballa (37) for B and Iggy Quinto (33) for C.
Day three – Forest Hills Golf and Country Club
Champions: Dodie Sanchez (38) for A; Angelo Biding (38) for B and Nep Palomo (39) for C.
Runners Up: Edwin Quiaonza (37) for A; Leo Briones (37) for B and Nor Hugo (37) for C.
Day four – Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club
Champions: Troy Pashley (35) for A; Rupert Gutierrez (38) for B and Noel Vitug for C.
Runners Up: Edwin Quiaonza (35) for A; Angelo Biding (35) for B and A. Villamayor (35) for C.
Two daily nearest the pins for each division were also awarded P300 each coming from the daily side betting by the participants.
Printed fairway towels courtesy of the host club and the coordinator were given as souvenirs for those who participated in the 20th series of this golf tournament. Likewise, since it was the 10th year that this tournament was held in Manila, loyalty t-shirts were given to twenty (20) golfers who has been continuously participating in this event courtesy of the coordinator.
There were ninety two (92) golfers coming from Victoria (39); New South Wales (23), Queensland (13), Australian Capital Territory (11), Northern Territory (4) and Western Australia (2), who were comfortably transported daily by two luxury coaches from Executive Plaza Hotel (Mabini St) to the golf courses and back. This event is now considered the biggest and most prestigious Fil-Aussie Interstate golf tournament in the Philippines today.
The awards presentation and buffet dinner took place after the tournament on the last day at Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club. During the program this writer as coordinator, welcomed everyone and acknowledged the valuable and hard work of the host club headed by Dino Francisco and the Committee members for job well done.
He recognized the continued support of twenty (20) golfers who has been participating for the past ten years, and congratulated this year’s winners. In his closing remarks, he thanked the Lord that for the past ten years there were no major accidents or incidents among the golfers. He then led everyone for a closing prayers and wished them well in their trip back to their respective abode.
Oscar Parian, President of 40Love of Darwin, who will host next year’s series thanked everyone for their participation and extended his invitation to come back next year. He also congratulated the winners and wished everyone well in their trip back home to Australia.
The President of Pinoy golfers of Perth, Nestor Jongko was the master of ceremonies and managed to keep everyone laughing with his extraordinary jokes while waiting for the final results of tournament winners.
The 21st Fil-Aussie Interstate Friendship golf cup will be held in Manila again in early March next year and will be hosted by 40Love of Darwin headed by Oscar Parian, who promised a more relaxing, enjoyable but very competitive games of golf that we all loved.