Tagaytay Highlands cements WGAP 3-peat

TAGAYTAY Highlands managed just one third-place finish in the 2014 Champion Infinity WGAP Circuit’s final leg at Sta. Elena recently but still ran away with its third straight overall crown to bolster its position as the country’s top ladies golf club.

Sta. Elena used its familiarity with the par-72 layout to rule Class A, finish second in Class C and place third in Class B.

That gave the host club enough points to salvage a spot in the WGAP Cup, which features the top 5 teams after the eight-leg WGAP circuit presented by Champion Infinity and sponsored by Meralco.

Rio Co fired 41 Stableford points while Sakura Okamura shot a 40 and Lota Nemec and Carina Ricamonte backed them up with identical 39s as the hosts pooled a 159 to capture the Class A crown.

Valley Golf finished second, 13 shots behind, as Violeta Pegels and Evangeline Apuhin fired 39s. Tagaytay Highlands, with Bern Wong and Hedy See firing 39 and 35 points, respectively, ended up third with a 139.

That one point in Class A was enough for Highlands to complete its “three-peat” as it totaled 23 points to pocket the crown.

Meanwhile, Villamor topped Class B with 141 as Lisa Ferreras shot a 38, Melissa Gozum and Nancy Tsay added a pair of 35s and Gloria de Villa made a 33, besting Canlubang by one. Sta. Elena came in third with a 138.

Alabang dominated Class C with a 138 as Connie Moncour sizzled with a 42, Liberty de Castro made a 36 and Marilen Villanueva and Minerva Castillo each carded 30 points. Sta. Elena placed second (135) while Canlubang wound up third (131).

Pegels took the individual crown in Class A and Forest Hills’ Cecille Tan (37) and Cangolf’s Harumi Ieda (36) bagged the titles in Classes B and C, respectively.

Highlands all but wrapped up its third straight title after the seventh leg at Cangolf with a 22-point total, six ahead of Canlubang and Alabang heading to the final leg at Sta. Elena.