Luisita foils Canlubang, reclaims PAL Seniors crown

MANILA, Philippines — Luisita held sway in the stretch and banked on Edmund Yee’s clutch shots while pouncing on Damasus Wong’s wobbly finish to pound out a three-point decision over Canlubang in the PAL Seniors Interclub at the Alta Vista Golf Club in Cebu City yesterday.

Ex-pro Eddie Bagtas shot 50 points, Yee breeze through in the last three holes at one-under to fire a 49 and Rafael Garcia added a 46 as the Tarlac-based squad assembled a 145 for a 569, ending Cangolf’s back-to-back title reign.

Canlubang, which stopped Luisita’s three-peat feat in 2017, finished with a 148, just chopping its archrival’s overnight six-point lead into a half for a 566 total.

Del Monte also pooled a 145 to place third in the Championship Division while Cebu Country Club wound up fourth at 543 after a 141.

Six points down after three rounds, Canlubang pulled to within three after Abe Rosal edged Chino Raymundo, 49-46, in the first flight.?

But Wong failed to keep a one-over par card through 15 holes as he fumbled with a bogey, a pickup and double bogey to limp home with 47.?

He drove out of bounds in the last two holes after missing the green on the 16th.

That seven-point swing in the last three holes turned out to be what Luisita needed to dethrone Canlubang, which  drew 52 points from Rolly Viray.?

“I think the key to our victory was the extra practice we did last month,” said Luisita non-playing captain Jeric Hechanova. “We were able to identify which players to field. We knew that Eddie (Bagtas) would not fare well at Club Filipino de Cebu.”