PRESS RELEASE
CEBU CITY – Team South took three matches and dropped one for a 3-1 victory over North in yesterday morning’s four-ball as it padded its lead to 8-5 heading to the afternoon foursomes in the The Duel 3–North vs South at the Cebu Country Club here.
Marvin Dumandan and Tony Lascuña ripped the Michael Bibat-Gerald Rosales pair, 3&1, to cap the Southerners’ domination of their Northern counterparts that saw Jay Bayron and Cassius Casas trounce Angelo Que and Edward Reyes, 4&2, and Jhonnel Ababa and Elmer Salvador edge the James Ryan Lam-Carl Santos-Ocampo tandem, 2&1.
Miguel Tabuena and Jun Rates, who won one match and drew the other in Wednesday’s opener of the three-day event pitting local tour’s best players from the North against those from the South, saved the day for the defending champion North squad as they nip the Charles Hong-Frankie Miñoza duo, 2&1.
After seizing 5-3 lead in the first day, Team South moved three points away with hopes of further stretching the margin in the afternoon alternate-shot duels at press time.
“We need all the points we can get to give us some cushion going into the final day tomorrow (today),” said South skipper Jerome Delariarte.
South boasts of a deep roster from talent-rich Davao with Minoza from Del Monte and local ace Hong backstopping the squad raring to reclaim the crown they won in the 2012 inaugurals but lost last year after a foldup in the deciding singles matches.
With a big cushion, Delariarte hopes to make up for the team’s debacle last year.
“Hopefully it will not happen again this year, and I’m confident that it won’t,” said Delariarte.
For North captain Artemio Murakami, he remains hopeful of his wards’ chances of recovering in the last foursomes and in the singles.
“Anything can happen. The important thing is not to give up,” said Murakami.
Ababa and Salvador actually fought back from a hole down after 12 holes with birdies on Nos. 13, 15 and 16 holes before holding sway for the victory.
Bayron and Casas came out more impressive as they bested Que and Reyes while Lascuña and Dumandan helf off Rosales and Bibat complete the morning romp.
The South squad, however, failed to sweep its rivals as Tabuena and Rates humbled the veteran Miñoza and Hong.
The event, put up by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc., is backed by Nike Golf, Pacsports, Srixon, Callaway, Sharp, FootJoy, Mizuno, Callaway and Custom Clubmakers with Balls, ABS-CBN Sports+Action and Inquirer Golf as media partners.
