Cebuano golf ace Charles Hong partnered with Clyde Mondilla to deliver the South’s only win of the day but it wasn’t nearly enough as the North won, 4½-1½, at the end of the first day of the The Duel – North vs South 4 yesterday at Wack Wack Golf and Country Club’s East Course in Mandaluyong.
Hong, a former standout of the Cebu Country Club who has had significant success on the professional tour, delivered a 3-2 romp over Miguel Tabuena and Benjie Magada. But that win proved to be the South’s only highlight yesterday in a North-dominated first day that saw Michael Bibat drill in a bending 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th to lift his team-up with Miguel Ochoa to a thrilling 1-up victory over Elmer Salvador and Arnold Villacencio and punctuate Team North’s huge victory over the South.
The last pairing was headed to an all-square ending after Salvador and Villacencio birdied No. 15 to draw level and after both teams traded pars in the next two holes. But Bibat, after checking the line of his putt on top of the hole twice, canned in that long downhiller.
The win capped North’s solid first day performance that saw Angelo Que and James Ryan Lam nip Tony Lascuña and Orlan Sumcad, 1-up; Mars Pucay and Keanu Jahns overwhelm Cassius Casas and Ferdie Aunzo, 3&2; and Gerald Rosales and Jun Bernis clobber Jhonnel Ababa and Marvin Dumandan, 4-3, in the best-ball format of the event.
The North’s Randy Garalde and Joenard Rates held brothers Rufino and Jay Bayron to an all-square match.
With a three-point cushion, the Northerners try to pad their lead in today’s foursomes (alternate shot) with Que teaming up with Pucay against Dumandan and Aunzo; Bibat and Bernis facing the Bayrons; Rosales and Jahns taking on Lascuña and Sumcad; Tabuena and Rates colliding with Hong and Ababa; Lam and Ochoa clashing with Casas and Mondilla; and Magada and Garalde mixing it up with Salvador and Villacencio.