Visayas romp gives Eagle Ridge Sta. Lucia Tour lead

MANILA, Philippines - Eagle Ridge, outgunned in the opening leg, rebounded by topping the Visayas stop of the Sta. Lucia Golf Tour at the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club in Cebu last Saturday to wrest the overall lead from Rancho Palos Verdes.

Eagle Ridge pressed its bid for a fifth overall plum by collecting 48 out of a possible 60 points with victories in Division 2 by Munding del Rosario and Youn Hwan-an and the seniors category by Mario Lugas-Si Kun-ryoo.

The Cavite-based squad assumed solo overall leadership in the four-stage, three-month series with 90 points, now two up on erstwhile leader Palos Verdes which was shut off the winners column after scoring an unprecedented sweep in the Mindanao leg it hosted.

With just three fourth-place finishes to show, the Davaoeños managed only 28 points and slid to second behind Eagle Ridge at 88.

Lost in the shadow of Eagle Ridge’s charge were the victories posted by Royale Tagaytay in Group 1 and Orchard in Group 3. It marked the first win in the top group by Royale while Orchard ended a losing streak of more than two years.

Jufil Sato and Steve Terazona delivered the win for Royale Tagaytay while Carlo Ricardo Magno struck for Orchard. Royale claimed runner-up honors for the leg with 39 points and moved up to fourth overall at 60 behind Alta Vista (30-70), which lost control of the stage it dominated every year since the event’s inception.

Beverly Place also climbed a notch to fifth from sixth at 54 as Summit Point took a big dive from fourth to sixth at 49.

Orchard remained in seventh spot at 29, Lakewood eighth at 22 and Caliraya Springs last with six points.

The individual winners were evenly spread with five different champions from as many clubs.

Royale Tagaytay’s Jufil Sato won Class A, David Park of Alta Vista claimed Class B, Carlo Ricardo Magno took Class C, Johnny Sambo of Beverly Place topped Class D and Si Kun-ryoo of Eagle bagged the seniors title.

The final leg will be co-hosted by Orchard and Eagle Ridge on Nov. 5-6.

The inter-club competition is also backed by LG Electronics, Philippine Airlines, RizGolf, Dynamic Sports and Leisure Corp. and Master Sports Corp. The official hotels are Marco Polo (Davao), Marriot (Cebu) and Mandarin Oriental.