By Roderick Osis
Thursday, October 27, 2011
WITH close to 1,200 parbusters returning to the 62nd edition of the Fil-Am Golf Invitational Tournament, defending champion Forest Hills is also back to the prestigious Fil division, which they won against favorite Southwoods and Mizuno.
Forest Hills–Nicklaus upset eight-time champion Manila Southwoods to win its first title in the premiere Fil-Championship of the regular Fil-Am.
Forest Hills closed with a 103 for 462 points for a four shot win over Mizuno and another shot off Southwoods.
Making the big leap in this year’s tournament is the shifting of Am division defending titlist Sea Bridge Chelus to give Forest Hills a run for their money in the Fil championship flight.
SeaBridge Chelus I, which closed with a 129 and 487 total, will now join the mix up in the centerpiece flight, said vice chair Shin Paul Chan.
Chelus’s score was 31 points better than Forest Hills as the Fil-Am committee remains optimistic the top guns in Philippine amateur golf will find time to play in the country’s premiere amateur golf tournament.
Names like Jobim Carlos, Clyde Mondilla and Zannie Boy Gialon were absent in last year’s Fil-Am where ICSTI backed out before the Fil-Championship flight teed off four days before the tournament closed.
“We are inviting them back and we hope sponsors will be willing to support them. Without a sponsor, it is unlikely that they will join,” added Chan, BCC’s resident manager.
He added it could be too late now and are setting their eyes on the 63rd staging next year.
The Fil-Am has seen the biggest names in Philippine golf over the years.
In the 80s, it was Frankie Minoza, and later joined by Richard Sinfuego, Tony Lascuna and local hero Mars Pucay, who all turned pro after the 1994 edition and where Canlubang earned its last because it will only return in 2001 as the Calatagan team and later as Nike, which won three straight from 2005 to 2007.
The past seven years saw the Fil-Am divided into two categories, the senior’s and regular. The senior’s side, which is open for 55 years old and above, and the flights F, G and H of the Fil-Am regular starts on Nov. 23 with the practice rounds the first three days and tournament proper on Nov. 26.
Practice rounds for the higher flights of the regular Fil-Am, flights E, D, C, B, A and Championship, starts on December 2 until the fifth, while tournament proper begins on Dec. 6 until the 10th.
Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on October 28, 2011.
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