South triumphs in ‘Duel’

THE SOUTH squad sparkled individually yesterday, dominating the singles matches to take the individual staging of the Ryder Cup style “The Duel,” 16-12, against the North at Alabang Golf Club.

The fancied stalwarts of the South led by Elmer Salvador, Antonio Lascuña and Jay Bayron all posted convincing victories and sparked a total of nine wins in the 12 singles matches that more than made up for their lackluster team play in the first day.

Salvador, with a mind-boggling eight birdies, had a surprisingly easy time in defeating Mars Pucay, 5&4, while Lascuña, the winner two weeks ago at Eagle Ridge, also triumphed via the same score over teener Miguel Tabuena.

Joenard Rates, Michael Bibat and Angelo Que posted the only three victories for the North, with Rates nipping Richard Sinfuego, Bibat turning back Jonel Ababa and Que, the 2008 Philippine Open champion, humbling Cassius Casas all via 2&1 scores.

The dominance of the singles matches actually capped a mighty day for the South, who won three of the four suspended matches in the morning to be just 7-9 behind at the end of the team format.

“We would have been hard-pressed to sweep the singles had we not won the suspended (team) matches,” South skipper Charles Hong, a rookie in the local tour, said. “The wins boosted out confidence for the singles.”

ICTSI PR manager Narlene Soriano, Alabang GC president Jojo Gana and general manager Cynthia Matias were present during the awarding ceremonies of the event backed by Nike Golf, Custom Clubmakers, FootJoy, Callaway, Titleist, Srixon and Sharp.