Suzuki, Taguchi top Southwoods Invitational

MANILA, Philippines — Shinichi Suzuki and Teruhisa Taguchi came away with 72 Aggregate points at Legends as they edged the Justin Tambunting-Eric Escalona pair by one for the overall gross championship in the Southwoods Invitational in Carmona, Cavite yesterday.

The Suzuki-Taguchi and Tambunting-Escalona tandems slugged it out scorching conditions for two rounds, matching 82s in Best Ball at the Masters but the former’s combined closing 72-point output for a 154 netted them the crown in Manila Southwoods’ premier member-guest tournament.

Tambunting and Escalona settled for a 71 for second at 153 while Allan Yap and Zachary Villaroman placed third with a 144 after a 66 (Legends) and 78 (Masters).

The battle for the overall net trophy likewise went down-to-the-wire with Melchor Bacsa and Alexander Festejo thwarting the Willy Tee Ten-Fritz Jerrold Lacap in the tiebreak after both teams finished with 180s from identical 84s and 96s at Legends and Masters, respectively.

Richard Chua and Fernando Lim scored a 178 after 84 and 94 and finished third in the event supported by year-round sponsor Royal Caribbean/Baron Travel, hole-in-one sponsors Ogawa, Alpine Motors Philippines, Toyota Silang, Pagcor Casino Filipino and Klio International.

Bacsa and Festejo completed a twinkill as they ruled the Sponsors/Guests category, beating the Eimie Hedeager-Sarah Cruz (80-96-176) by four. Anthony See and Christopher Ilagan placed third with a 171 after an 81 and a 90 in the four-day tournament backed by Platinum sponsors The Turf Company, Inc., CWC International Corp. and Newport World Resorts and gold backers Agrexplore Corp., Alpha Quality (GFX) Leads Agriculture/Malveda Properties Development Corp., Mikro-Tech Capital, Inc./Capital One Energy, Inc., The Manor and The Forest Lodge at Camp John Hay.

The other winners were Division I – Renie Floro and Kazuo Murakami (74-96-170); Division II – Pablo Olivarez and Roberto Leviste (83-94-177); Division III – Chua and Lim (84-94-178); Division IV – Richard Santos and Mich Miguel (81-94-175); and Division V – Willy Tee Ten and Fritz Lacap (84-96-180).

The silver sponsors were Abomar Equipment Sales Corp., Club Leisure Management Corp., First Global Conglomerate, Camaya Coast, Le Chef, Inc., Mit-Air, Inc. and Prestige Golf Access & Clubshares, Inc. while the bronze sponsors list were Absolute Sales Corp., Ayala Land Premier, Boeing Material Handling Corp., Camp John Hay Golf Club, Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose Law Offices, Coca-Cola Beverages Phil., Escala Tagaytay, Federal Management & Maintenance, Inc., Forest Hills Golf and Country Club, Gamboa & Sons, Inc. (GranSportivo), GG&A Clubshares, G&W Clubshares, Golforce, Inc., GolfX;

Hydrotech Irrigation and General Services, Mitsukoshi Motors Phils., Inc., MRT Dev’t. Corp., Nozomi Providers, Inc., RFM Corp., PBR Law Offices, PNOEZ Golf Accessories Shop (Southwoods Clubfitter), Smart Probe, Inc., Sojitz Fuso Philippines Corp., Suijin Restaurant, TimeCargo Logistics Corp., Triframe, Inc. and Warbird Securities.

Floro and Murakami won by three points over Ryan Abdon and Wally Bargaza (73-94-167), while Jun Sung Lee and Donghyun Hwang placed third with a 164 (78-86); Olivarez and Leviste finished six points ahead of Brian Park and Eden Hernandez (77-94-171) while Yap and Villaroman placed third with 144.

Chua and Lim also posted a six-point win over the Ian Arceo-Mike Ong tandem (80-92-172), which edged Rodel Resuello and Bobby Chico (76-96) in the tiebreak for runner-up honors.

Santos and Miguel foiled the Maritess Castillo-Rodantegio Pangiliinan duo (84-90-174) with Rodolfo Faustino III and Ed Camacho nipping two others in the tiebreak (81-92-173) for third place.

Ten and Lacap cruised to a three-point victory over John Lopez and Kenney Tan (81-96-177) with Adrian Tan and James Lim combining for a 172 (76-96) for third.