Surigao starts Fil A bid with 7 point lead

RAMON Capistrano shot 30 points and give Team Surigao I 108 points to start their bid in Fil A of the 69th FilAm Invitational golf tournament at the Baguio Country Club today (Dec. 10) as Manila Southwoods gear for another title retention bids in the Championship flights.

With the fair weather that makes most of the day quite hot in the mountain resort, Surigao got 28 points from Don Petil, 26 from Edgardo Lopez and 24 from Lito Camo to give the Mindanao squad a seven point lead on Che Lus I.

Former tourism secretary Ace Barbers did not count at the start of competition in the regular division when he submitted 16 points.

Che Lus had 101 points on the 30 of Mike Castro, 26 of Warren Pettelier, 23 of local surgeon Ed Montenegro, the team's “import” and 22 of John Quinata.

Summit Point Golf and Country Club is another three shot down with 98 thanks

to the 30 of Edsel Opulensa.

Over at the Camp John Hay golf course, Rollie Valdez opened with a 30 to lead San Miguel to 111 and a two shot lead in Am A.

Mikey Punsalan counted with a 30, Bong Sison and Dennis Nicomedes added a 29 and 27, respectively, even as Rene Unson, a member of the Megafiber team that won the seniors championship, did not count with his 24.

Rodolfo Brobio and Alvin Buenaventura each shot a 29 to lead Forest Hills Palmer to 109, two off the first day leader in the longer CJH course.

Two teams are lodged at third, two off Forest Hills at 107, Benlife Producers – Bank and Srixon.

Waterlympics Clark shot an opening round of 86 to hang on to a single point lead despite a two point penalty in Fil D competitions.

Team Surigao II came in with an 85, three shots on Kiss Juice Apple.

Paterno Hernandez, Jr. submitted a 28 card to lead Rural Bankers II to 89 and a three shot lead in Am D.

Cool Jocks is three shot down with 86, another three up on Square and Compass Nueva Ecija. Three other teams are so close to Square and Compass with Moto shooting an opening round of 82, NBI Golf Team 157 is another shot down, while Monterey is at 80 points.

Defending champions Manila Southwoods, meanwhile, open their bid in Fil and Am Championship tomorrow (Dec. 11) at the BCC course as they chase another milestone in their jaded FilAm career.

Yuto Katsuragawa, who led the team to the title in 2016, will lead a young Carmona, Cavite parbusters to the title anew.

Another Japanese amateur, Aguri Iwasaki, who is said to be even better then him, is lined up for Southwoods.

Katsuragawa has two titles this year in the Japan amateurs, the Chubu Amateur Championship last June and the Japan Collegiate Championship last August. He also finished second in the World University Championship held last May in Pradera Verde Golf Club here which was won by a Japanese compatriot.

Cousins Aidric Chan, Ateneo's top senior high player, and Carl Corpus as well as veteran Junjun Plana will try to make Southwoods a 17 time champion in the Fil-Am, and tie Canlubang's record.

Southwoods, however, is the most dominant team ever counting its wins in the Am Championship since joining in 1997.

Lanz Uy and Liam Cullins will also return to make it a double whammy for Southwoods in the Am Championship anew. The two helped Southwoods to a whopping 50 points victory last year.

This year, Southwoods will parade newbies Josh Jorge, Sean Ramos, Jegg Jung, and another Japanese, Masaichi Otake.

Three teams will challenge Southwoods including former champion Mizuno X1R with brothers King and Ace Stehmeier returning to give the team another shot at the title.