Arnold Mercado Wins 5th Fil-Am Championship

Sept. 22, 2009 -- Three Lasallians -- all stalwarts of the host DLS Greens Club -- romped away with the most prestigious prizes at the 5th staging of the Fil-Am Amateur Golf Championship held last Saturday Sept. 19 at the Skywest Golf Course in Hayward. This year's event attracted 37 golfers and they teed-off from the 6,513-yard white tees of the long-but-flat Hayward municipal course.

Accurate approach shots and putts as well as the ability to avoid the tree-lined fairway "jails" from wayward tee shots basically determined the day's winners. Tournament Director Arnold Mercado proved to be a "greedy" host for winning the coveted 5th Fil-Am Over-all Champion award by scoring the day's lowest gross score of 10-over-par 82. Fellow DLS Greens Club members Manny Noguera and Bill Gardner topped the tournament's Class A and B divisions, respectively, with identical net scores of 70. Manny and Bill actually won via tiebreakers over runners-up Bob Panlasigue and Butch Rastrullo, respectively. In the Class C division, Patrick Pernia won by one stroke over Julius Rivera. Butch and Patrick led the "bipartisan" support from arch-rival Ateneo for the DLSAANC's annual golf fundraiser.

The day's closest-to-the-pin bragging rights belonged to Matt Hizon (for the 135-yard hole #3) and Romi Beza (for the 199-yard hole # 17). In addition, Irvin Sevilla won the Vegas jackpot at the 166-yard hole # 7.

The golf fundraiser raffled two grand prizes this year courtesy of Manolo Relova's prize-sourcing prowess. Romi Beza won the top golf-and-travel package prize consisting of a round-trip ticket to Manila via Philippine Airlines along with a 2-night stay at a luxury Manila hotel and a 2-night stay plus one round of golf at the Baguio Country Club and Resort. Former DLSAANC director Jojo de la Fuente joined the post-tournament dinner festivities at the nearby Manila Garden buffet restaurant and won the second prize, which was identical to the first prize but sans the 2-night stay at a luxury Manila hotel, which, by the way, was provided courtesy of another former DLSAANC director and current Philippine Tourism Director Rene de los Santos. DLSAANC President Art Dancel presented the winning trophies to the day's winners.

Hats-off to tournament director Arnold Mercado and his committee members Irvin Sevilla, Matt Hizon and Yollie Aquino for spearheading this year's successful tournament! Special mention to Lasallian beauties Sarah Esteves-Cobbs, Peachy Herman and Yollie for their warm registration and dinner buffet table welcome! Kudos as well to awards ceremony MC Orly Mayor!

The complete net scores:

Class A

70     Manny Noguera

         Bobby Panlasigue

         Arnold Mercado

72     Irvin Sevilla

74     Rene Pernia

75     Matt Hizon

77     Clement Yu

78     Kit Santana

          Froi Lomotan

81     Lou Madamba

          Brad Bertalan

Class B

70      Bill Gardner

           Butch Rastrullo

75      Ferdie Pernia

          Dak Baltazar

          Leo Jugo

76      Joji Mercado

          Arturo Dancel

          Gary Malinski

78     Jun Magbitang

79     Romi Beza

80     Rico Medina

81     CJ Sarino

          Mandy Rosales

83     Alan Silva

84     Nani Ramirez

90     Paul Kurily

Class C

73     Patrick Pernia

74     Julius Rivera

76     Jun Nicolas

          Peter Lew

77     Jimmy Briones

          Caloy Narciso

78     James Ramos

          Jim Gallegos

          Luigi Cruz

79      Diomi Ramos

									Points Matrix:
									1st Place	100
									2nd Place	90
			DLS Greens Golf Club						3rd Place	80
			Golfer of the Year Award						4th Place	70
				2009					5th Place	60
									Participation	50
* New Member		03/14/09	04/18/08	05/17/08	06/14/08	07/18/08	08/15/08	09/19/08	10/17/08
Last Name	First Name	Presidio	Callippe      Preserve	Poppy         Hills	Poppy            Ridge	Crystal          Springs	Summit       Point	Sky West    (5th FIL-AM)	Santa             Clara	Cum        Points
Noguera	Manny	60	100	60	50	90	50	90		500
Gardner	Bill	50	50	50	90	70	50	100		460
Hizon	Matt	100	70	80	50	50	50	50		450
Yu	Clement	80	50	50	50	50	90	50		420
Panlasigue	Bobby	70	50		70	80	50	80		400
Rosales	Mandy	50	50	90	50	50	50	50		390
Roxas	Frank	60	50	50	80	50	60			350
Bertalan *	Brad	50	50	50	50		50	50		300
Feyzbakhsh *	Jim	50	50	50	50		100			300
Magbitang *	Jun	50	50		50	50	50	50		300
Silva	Alan	50	50		100	50		50		300
Dumancas *	Ramon		90	100	50	50				290
Flores	Jojo	50		50	50	50	70			270
Medina	Rico			50	50	60	50	50		260
Africa	Dino		50	50	50	50	50			250
Colmenares	Tony	50	50	50	50		50			250
Mayor	Orly	50		50	50	50	50			250
Mercado	Joji		50		50	50	50	50		250
Dancel	Art		50		50		80	50		230
Ramirez	Nani	70			50	50		50		220
Mercado	Arnold	90	50					70		210
Santos	Arlo Rey	80	80	50						210
Sarino	CJ					100	50	50		200
Alvarez	Fernando	50	50	50						150
Riego de Dios	Ron	90	60							150
Beza	Romi				50			50		100
Jugo	Leo						50	50		100
Madamba	Lou			50				50		100
Manalo	Mike			50			50			100
Olives	Enrique	100								100
San Jose	Ramon			50			50			100
Consunji	Tom			70						70
Litton	Andy				60					60
Sevilla	Irvin							60		60
Aguirre	Dennis			50						50
De Villa	Jovy			50						50
Estrella	Allan	50								50
Gochoco	Jim				50					50
Lomotan	Froi						50			50
Sicat	Joe			50						50
Narciso *	Carlos							50		50
Abadia	Ding									0
Avanzado *	Fernando									0
Besinga	George									0
Desuasido	Chito									0
Gutierrez	Jerry									0
Jaojoco *	Lito									0
Leoncio	Ben									0
Monserrat	Mike									0
Pantangco	Bobby									0
Payawal	Louis									0
Salgado	Joaquin									0
Valles	Jose Mari									0