North, South bring Duel 3 collision to Cebu Country Club

MANILA, Philippines — After splitting the first two editions at Alabang Country Club, North and South bring their The Duel series to Cebu when the third staging of the country’s version of the Ryder Cup is held May 21-23 at the Cebu Country Club.

Team South drew first blood in the series by dominating the singles matches to post a 16-12 victory in the inaugurals in 2012 but the North squad struck back last year, also in singles, when it overhauled a four-point deficit in team play to win, 14 1/2-13 1/2 and level the series.

That should make their third face-off interesting with the Southerners expected to get back at their Northern rivals on their turf on a team built around Tony Lascuña, Elmer Salvador, Cassius Casas, Jay Bayron, Rufino Bayron and Marvin Dumandan.

Lascuña hopes to provide the leadership and inspiration for the team following a series of impressive performances here and abroad, including a joint 11th place finish at The Championship in Singapore and a victory at ICTSI Valley Golf Challenge recently.

Charles Hong, winner at ICTSI Sherwood and mentor of winning Team South in 2012, is also expected to boost Team South bid with the Cebuano hoping to flash his familiarity with the challenging Cebu Country Club.

Angelo Que and Miguel Tabuena will likely spearhead Team North’s campaign in the three-day tournament, which features the country’s leading players from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.