Crisostomo-Velasco paces Mango Tee; Arceo fires ace

MANILA, Philippines - Jun Arceo aced the 12th hole with a 7-iron and stands to become the big winner even as Ricardo Crisostomo and Rey Velasco led all scorers after the first round of play in the 29th edition of the Mango Tee, the member-guest tournament of the Alabang Country Club.

Arceo, guest player of Jerome Hernandez, holed his tee-shot on the 170-yard hole to make himself the first claimant to the Mitsubishi Mirage car and Yamaha cart with a combined value of at least P800,000 staked on the hole. Unless another player shoots an ace on the same hole in the last three days of the event, Arceo will drive home the Mirage as the solo winner on Saturday.

Crisostomo and Velasco, meanwhile, paced the biggest field of 800 players ever assembled for the Mango Tee presented by Smart Infinity, Petron and Pancake House/Yellow Cab. They led Osler Padua and Jude Doctora by one.

A shootout for the low gross title looms with Martin Lorenzo-Jikjik Abdon, George Gallent-Junjun Plana and Seve Roxas Chua-Rupert Zaragosa tied at 71.

Pacing their divisions were JP Castrillo-JP Reyes with a 78 in Class A, Ronald Nunez-Joaquin Tolentino and Joseph Aguilar-Robert Almero 79s in Class B.

Major sponsors of the event are BPI Assets, Eurotel, Golforce, The Turf Co., Pepsi, GNC and BJ Marthel. Hole sponsors include Chinatrust, Airfreight 2100 Inc., Atty. Boy Sta. Ana, City Service Corp., Prudential Customs Brokerage, GG&A Clubshares, Loopex Packaging, Machine Technology Asia, Maritime Technology, MIS, Petrolift, Safe Seas, Security Bank, Alveo, Ayala Land Premier and G&W Clubshares.

Providing support are Hungry Hippo, Rudy Project, Pernod Ricard/Chivas Regal, Foid Details, Omnisource, Club 357, TW Steel, Suarez&Sons, Meister, Maybank, Business Mirror and Outback Steakhouse.