Three’s Company
By Musong R. Castillo
IT WAS A journey that literally had stops in the Philippines’ famous islands.
It was a trip that was taken to comb the talents to represent the country in a prestigious international event later this year.
And in the end, after the smoke of all the battles cleared, it was a trip that was worth taking for Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc.
The Philippines crowned its champion and the other two representatives to the Hyundai World Golf Championship in Korea recently, with a down-the-wire battle royale ensuing at the Manila Southwoods which culminated a two-week search.
Rodel Mangulabnan, a three-handicapper who is a computer architect by profession, fired a two-under-par 70 under benign scoring conditions at the Legends Course to defeat Bernard Paquin via a countback and become the RP Team spearhead to Korea.
“It’s a real honor,” Mangulabnan told Inquirer Golf Monthly shortly after the event, when asked of how he felt after earning the RP squad spot.
“We don’t know the kind of competition we will face there (in Korea), but be assured that we will give it our best.”
The 46-year-old Mangulabnan drained a 16-foot downhill putt for birdie on the 18th hole and turned in 11 strokes for his last three holes to nip Paquin, who actually had six birdies against four bogeys in a compelling duel with the eventual champion.
“He’s very good,” Mangulabnan, who qualified for Southwoods Finals by placing second in the North Luzon eliminations held at his home club, the Royal Northwoods in Bulacan, said of Paquin, the representative from Visayas.
That birdie was Mangulabnan’s fourth for the day, even if he had quite an interesting day on the greens, which saw him three-putt twice and miss at least three four-footers for birdie.
Dante Torres, the winner of the Mindanao eliminations, churned out a level 72 and became the third man in the team, which will battle it out with entries from all over the world in the Grand Championships slated to be played at the Haevichi Resort in Jeju Island, Korea from May 11 to 15.
Aside from earning bragging rights for his country, the individual champion in Korea gets to drive home a brand new Hyundai car worth P3 million.
Richard Thomas Joson, Ivan Capiral, and Larry Gubat from North Luzon, and Siegfried Ramos from South Luzon, topped the accompanying A, B, C, and D classes, respectively.
They also received handsomely-crafted trophies like Mangulabnan and Co. while earning golf getaways to Kota Kinabalu for their efforts.
More than just a culminating event for the local eliminations, the National Finals was a celebration of the Filipino talent and passion in golf.
Former US Kids champion AR Ramos, now 12- years-old, hit the ceremonial drive to formally kick off hostilities. A separate tournament for dealers attending a convention was also held.
Mangulabnan, Paquin and Torres will now have a full month to ready themselves for Hyundai’s grand golf tournament where three of its top-of-the-line cars will be at stake.
The grand prize winner will be awarded a Genesis 3.3L, the runner-up a Sonata 2.4L and the third placer an i30 1.6L. The more expensive Genesis Coupe will be up for grabs as a hole-in-one prize.
Paquin has high hopes for their campaign: “This is a good opportunity for me to give honor to the country.”
Torres said that to finish in the top three is something to be proud of, an achievement he dedicates to his family and his friends at Apo where he works as a ball boy.
Hari’s top executives Richard Lee (chair emeritus) and Fe Perez-Agudo (EVP and COO) said that the entire Philippines can only look forward to their possible victory.
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