Orchard tops Founders; South Cotabato 2nd in Sportswriters  

CEBU CITY – The Orchard Golf and Country Club turned to its pair of junior golfers to take the fight out of its closest pursuers and capture the Founders division in the 74^th Philippine Airlines Men’s Interclub golf team championships on Saturday.  

Just two points ahead of Alabang and Riviera with two more teams within six points before the start of the final round, the Orchard drew a tournament-best 40 points from Zachary Castro and 33 from Tristan Jefferson Padilla to shut the door.  

Castro went 4-under at the back where he started before adding two more against two bogeys coming home.  

With Hongzheng Lu and Beejay Chua adding 32 and 25, the Orchard amassed 130 points at the Cebu Country Club to cruise to a seven-point victory.  

Meantime, South Cotabato rallied mightily, closing out with the day’s second best of 105 to finish second in the Sportswriters division behind Club Filipino de Cebu which totaled 386.

Backed by Rep. Peter Miguel and spearheaded by Sonny Tan Lao, JV Valdez, Antonio Aguilar, Jess Bagaforo Mangudadatu, Larry de Pedro VI, Jul Dave Araral, Ben Jonas Garcia, Jimmy Ang and Robert Dizon, South Cotabato wound up with a 364 total to beat out other teams from Mindanao, including Davao City (349), Sarangani Golf (346), Lanang (309), and MSU Golf (282).

Riviera Golf Club struck through Eric Gozo’s 35 and Michael Mendoza’s 34 to take second place with 463 points. Other scorers were King Stehmeier and Richard Salcedo with 28 apiece.  

Forest Hills settled for third with 455, drawing a pair of 32s from Augusto Pacheco and Jose Inigo Raymundo, a 31 from Joshua Nicolas Buenaventura and 26 from James Bryan Gosiaco. 

It was also a close fight in the third-tier Aviator class with Alta Vista emerging on top with 425 points after closing with 103 points at Club Filipino de Cebu.  

Cebu Country Club Team 2 came in second with 421 while Zamboanga took third with 417.  

Alta Vista made it two in a row after its second team ruled the Friendship class with 326 points, 27 points ahead of Liloan Golf Club. Apo Golf Oro golg Club placed third with 298.