By Ric de Vera
The state of Victoria won the 25th Fil-Aussie Interstate Friendship golf tournament held for four days in Manila on 11-15 March 2019.
The Pinoy Golfers of Melbourne members and friends captained by Hermie Josue garnered just enough points under the ‘nine-to-play’ team scoring method to lead by eight points over its closest rival, the defending champion—NSW.
Victoria team was awarded the monumental trophy plus P10,000 cash prize for their fantastic team efforts. “Am so happy that we won this years’ silver jubilee series,” said an ecstatic team captain Hermie Josue.
Individual over-all champion was Daven Naidu (109 points) from NSW followed by Roman Susi (108 points) from Victoria as runner up. These winners received monumental trophies and cash prizes of P3,000 and P1,000 respectively, for their exceptional efforts.
For the first time in 25 years of this golfing event, a hole-in-one was done by Shane Zhang (a first time participant from ACT) in Hole no 13 of Forest Hills Golf & Country club with 137 yards. He used his nine iron club. He was awarded special trophy courtesy of Captain Victor del Prado and P2,000 cash prize from the coordinator.
“Am so excited that for the first time in joining your group, I made a hole-in-one,” said Zhang.
The Fil-Aussie Interstate Friendship golf cup which is now composed of around 100 golfers coming from all over states and territories in Australia and has been held in Manila annually for the past 15 years.
The venues were carefully selected four championship and privately owned golf courses. For the first time the group played at Forest Hills (Nicklaus course), Splendido, Riviera (Langer course) and Canlubang Golf & Country club – South course.
Daily winners classified by division with their state origin. They were awarded trophies and cash prizes of P300.
Day 1 – Forest Hills Golf & Country Club (Nicklaus Course)
Ray Rodriguez (NSW) for A Div, John Price (ACT) for B Div and Rey Sapitola (Vic) for C Div.
Day 2 – Splendido Golf & Country Club
Aswin Kumar (ACT) for A Div, Arnold Villamayor (NSW) for B Div and Rey Sapitola (Vic) for C Div.
Day 3 – Riviera Golf & Country Club (Langer Course)
Hermie Josue (Vic) for A Div, Dharmend Kumar (NSW) for B Div and Joey Mercado (NSW) for C Div.
Day 4 – Canlubang Golf & Country Club (South Course)
Roman Susi (Vic) for A Div, Phonz May (ACT) for B Div and Rene de Leon (NSW) for C Div.
Individual over-all winners are (L-R holding trophies) Daven Naidu (2nd from left) as champion (NSW) and Roman Susi (2nd from right) as runner up (Vic). Others in photo are Ariel Pattugalan (Presentation in-charge from ACT) far left, Charry the entertainer/presenter (middle) and Ponz May (Scoring committee chair from ACT) extreme right.
Hole-in-one winner Shane Zhang after receiving his special trophy from Ric de Vera, the coordinator. Looking from behind is Charry the entertainer/guest presenter.
The Fil-Aussie Interstate Friendship golf cup which is now composed of around 100 golfers coming from all over states and territories in Australia has been held in Manila annually for the past fifteen years. Four privately-owned golf courses were selected for the championship. For the first time, the group played at Forest Hills (Nicklaus course), Splendido, Riviera (Langer course) and Canlubang Golf & Country club – South course.
All Fil-Aussie golfers together with their friends and associates are invited to join again next year’s 26th series of the golf tournament which is now considered the biggest event in Manila by golfers coming from all over Australia.
For more information, call Ric de Vera on 0416 466 351 or email ric.devera1243@yahoo.com.au. Check out the group’s FB page: Fil-Aussie Interstate Friendship Golf.
