Royale, Eagle share lead in Sta. Lucia Tour in Cebu

MANILA, Philippines –  Royale Tagaytay and Eagle Ridge made a strong move for the Visayas leg honors after grabbing two division leads each in the first round of the 11th Sta. Lucia Golf Tour at the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club in Cebu last Friday.

Pressured to mount a big rally in this leg to stop current overall leader Rancho Palos Verdes from pulling away, Royale Tagaytay moved ahead in Division I and Division III and was poised to upstage the big guns for the Visayas stage crown.

Jufil Sato and Steve Terazona combined for 97 points for a two-point lead in Division I. In Division III the Francisco Suzara-Nestor Materiales tandem made 91 points for a three-point advantage that proved crucial in Royale snatching the lead.

Eagle held a firm grip on the two other divisions with a possible 1-2 showing in Division II through Arnel Agustin-Joselito Maghirang and Munding del Rosario-An Youn Hwan and the commanding eight-point lead of senior players Mario Lugay and Sin Kun-ryoo.

But Eagle’s other teams need to do more if the Cavite squad is to chop some points off Palos Verdes’ hefty 18-point lead. As they stand after the opening round, Royale is looking at 44 points but is 21 points behind heading to the Cebu leg.

Palos Verdes remains consistent with two possible second-place points and a third place finish and could even widen the gap unless Eagle makes its move on Saturday. Alta Vista, meanwhile, fell unusually silent at its own turf and may yield the leg plum for the first time in a long while.

The executive committee’s heads, Vicente Santos and Wini Gob, will be on hand for the awards rites of the tourney supported by LG Electronics, Philippine Airlines, RizGolf, Dynamic Sports and Leisure Corp. and Master Sports Corp. and official hotels Marco Polo (Davao), Marriot (Cebu) and Mandarin Oriental.

The individual leaders were Royale Tagaytay’s Sato (58) in Class A and Asterio Lagura (47) in Class D, Joung Soo-park (54 ) in Class B and Carlo Ricardo Magno (47) of Orchard in Class C.