Philippine Sports News and Updates

BACOLOD City, Philippines – The par-70 Marapara layout, under super dry and extra windy conditions, yesterday brought out the worst from the best.

Tommy Manotoc of Canlubang needed to sink a 30-foot putt on the final hole for his lone birdie of the day while Iggy Clavecilla of Luisita thought he missed five par putts from inside six feet for identical 45 points.

Their efforts were equivalent to nine-over-par 79 in medal play, a terrible round based on their own personal standards, but enough to pace their respective teams, tied at 129 after the first round of the PAL Interclub’s seniors event.

“It was really tough out there,” said Manotoc, the three-time individual champ who started his day with a pick-up on No. 10. A duck-hook on his drive left him with an unplayable lie under an old tree, leading to a scoreless opening hole.

He couldn’t do anything right the rest of the way. On his final hole, the 9th, he sent his second shot 30 feet short of the cup. But he stunned everyone when his uphill putt rolled straight to the hole.

Bangkok — Frankie Miñoza still walks with a swagger and displays that same deceiving but sincere smile. Turning 50 two months ago, he brought his game back to championship form after shedding the excess pounds to turn his battle-weary body fit and lean, which made him look just half of his age.

Miñoza had posted Top 10 finishes in the 93rd Philippine Open at Mount Malarayat in December last year and The Country Club Invitational at the Country Club recently. He has been very happy with his performances and, again, that showed in the ongoing $300,000 Asian Tour International, Asian Tour's opening salvo for 2010.

His two-under-par 70, though, were enough to put him in joint 12th place with 11 others and trail the four-under-par 68s of co-leaders American Jason Knutzon, Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Brazilian Lucas Lee.

That first round score showed that the Philippines' reigning top professional golfer can still turn the heat on and is not yet over the hill despite his age.

And his usual explanation? "I was only lucky today," said Miñoza in Filipino.

STA. ROSA, Laguna, Philippines – Angelo Que scored an expected romp in the P4.7 million The Country Club Invitational yesterday, beating the very players who beat him in the last two years with a closing 72 for a five-shot victory over two-time champion Juvic Pagunsan at the wind-raked The Country Club course here.

Que kept his overnight six-shot lead over last year’s runaway champion Artemio Murakami practically intact in the first nine holes under calm conditions, then fended off Pagunsan’s charge with gutsy pars in a windy backside stint to emerge the year’s first golfing millionaire with a P1.45 million victory.

He knocked in a difficult downhill putt from 20 feet for birdie on the 72nd hole, then pumped his right fist and tipped off his cap to cap his week-long brilliance against the cream of the country’s pro crop and on one of the toughest courses in the land with a sleek putting surface.

He finished with a one-under par 279 total, anchoring his runaway triumph with solid rounds in the first three days – a pair of 68s and a plucky 71 fashioned out under brutal conditions Saturday.

“Unlike in my 2007 win, I played more relaxed today,” said Que, who overhauled a four-shot deficit in the final round to beat Elmer Salvador in the 2007 edition of what has become the country’s golfing major.