Record 325 teams vie for golf glory in Southwoods Invitational

MANILA, Philippines – The Southwoods Invitational unwraps Wednesday, March 13, with the initial batch of the record-breaking 325-team field aiming for strong starts at the Masters and Legends courses in what promises to be a highly charged yet friendly competition.

The sequential tee times start at 6 a.m. featuring the Best Ball format at the hazard-laden Masters and the Aggregate format at the bunker-riddled Legends layout. Play will be under the Stableford Points scoring system with applied course handicaps.

Participants in Wednesday’s action will play their second round on Friday, March 15, while Batch 2 takes the stage Thursday and on March 16.

Beyond the pursuit of top honors in various divisions, the 650-player strong cast is eyeing premium prizes for achieving hole-in-one feats in one of the country's biggest member-guest tournaments backed by Platinum sponsors CWC International Corp., Calamba Doctors Hospital and Calamba Doctors College.

These include brand new cars from Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (Mitsubishi Triton GSL A/T) and Toyota Silang, Cavite (Toyota Raize), an Alaska cruise for two with round-trip tickets (Manila-Vancouver-Manila) for seven nights, courtesy of RCI and Baron Travel, a three-night stay at Hamp Court Palace with two round-trip tickets via China Airlines (Manila-Taipei-Manila) with Klio products from Klio International, a Smart Vogue Plus Ogawa Massage Chair, and P100,000 worth of free play credits at Newport World Resorts.

In case no one scores an ace, all prizes will be raffled off during awards rites on Saturday.

Hyundai Motors Phil. is offering an exclusive prize, a Stargazer X, for an ace.

In addition to the overall gross and overall net crowns, the competition will also see teams vying for titles in Divisions I, II, III, IV and V, while the Sponsors and Guests will dispute the title in their own category.

The Gold sponsors of the four-day tournament are Federal Land Inc. and The Turf Company; while making up the Silver sponsors list are Abomar Equipment Sales Corp., Agrexplore Corp., Le Chef Inc., Leads Agricultural Products Corp., City of Cabuyao, City of Carmona, Mit-Air Inc., Pacsports Phils. Inc. and Regent Travel Corp.

Joining the Bronze sponsor roster are Dadjniel Turf Inc., Forest Hills Golf and Country Club, G&W Clubshares, GG&A Clubshares, Golforce, Golfx, Herb-All Organic Trading Corp., Hino Balintawak, Hydro-Tech Irrigation & General Services, Januarius Golf, Kares International Commodities & Manpower Service Co., Kasile Hills Nature Resort and Events Venue/Buoyant Industrial Systems Inc., Laurea and Lia Duque.