The final week of the 72nd Fil-Am Men’s Invitational golf team championships gets underway on Tuesday in Baguio City with Manila Southwoods going for a sweep of the regular and senior events.
Southwoods defended its senior crown last week by holding off Luisita by 11 points.
The Carmona-based squad, made up of four national players and a member of the Korean national training team, is hands down choice to dominate the Fil-Championship division anew.
The powerhouse team is composed of Nomura Cup veteran Kristoffer Arevalo, United States collegians Aidric Chan, Carl Corpus and Gab Manotoc, and Korean Jeff Jung.
While most have conceded the title to Southwoods, the battle for second place is expected to be fiercely fought by five teams — Forest Hills, Time Cargo Logistics, Januarius Team, X1R-Tipsy Pig-Mizuno, Riviera-Batangas Barakos and SPES Team.
Forest Hills mixes youth with experience in junior golfers Edison Tabalin and Joshua Buenaventura and mainstays Gus Pacheco, Iñigo Raymundo and Rodel Mangulabnan.
Junjun Plana, the senior individual champion, will spearhead Time Cargo Logistics that includes Manfred Guangko, Gary Sales, Justin Tambuntin and playing manager Ruel Cabral.
The Januarius Team boasts Raymund Sangil, Marco Olives, RJ Rizada, Terence Macatangay, Kirby Lachica and playing captain Paolo Cagalingan.
Brothers King and Ace Stehmeier bring their vast Fil-Am Experience to X1R-Tipsy Pig-Mizuno also made up of Joaquin Tolentino, Feliciano Baron and Gab Macalagium.
Batangas Barakos will field Mark and Michael Mendoza, Erik Escalona, Eric Gozo, Gerald Katigbak and Rudy Amata while SPES Team is composed of Bayani Garcia, Marvin Mendoza, Justin Limjap, Peter Tyler Po, Herman Bascon, Matt Merndoza and Chino Raymundo.
The championship division will kick off on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, action in Flights A, C, D and E gets going Tuesday with 72-year-old icon Tommy Manotoc seeing action for Greenwater Golfers, one of the teams tipped to contend in Fil-Am. He will be joined by Rene Unson, Jimmy Ignacio, Kyruz Bati-El Pasiwen and John Robert Bernis.
The annual event is held in partnership with John Hay Golf Club, The Manor, The Forest Lodge and Le Chef.
The event presenters are 3K Rock Engineering and Construction Corp., Toyota, Boysen and Columbia Sportswear.
The major sponsors are Palm Grove, Britanny Corp. and Asiatraders Corp. while minor sponsors are Time Cargo Logistics, Lola Nena’s, K&G, Rudy Project, JTEN Sports, Inc., Januarius Holdings, Beer Below Zero and Tee Sports Gear.
Hole-in-one sponsors are Spes Construction Inc., Noah Business Applications, and Laus Group of Companies.
Daily Tribune and The Perfect Drive are media partners.
