PAL Interclub returns to Cebu

The Philippine Airlines Interclub, the country’s most storied golf team tournament, returns to its historical roots with the staging of its annual championships in Cebu province next month.

The 54th edition of the regular Men’s Interclub, universally acknowledged as the national amateur golf team championship, will be played from February 27 to March 2.

It will be preceded by the 15th staging of the Seniors Interclub, a separate tournament for the clubs’ senior players, from February 22 to 24. This will be the first time that the Seniors event will be held over three days, a concession to the record number of teams entered this year.

Both tourneys will be jointly played on the province’s two premier golf courses – the time-tested Cebu Country Club in the heart of Cebu City and the mint-new links of Club Filipino de Cebu in the hills above this northern industrial city.

The dates and venues were set during the team captains’ meeting at the Club Filipino here recently. This year’s theme is “Balik Cebu,” reflecting the tournament’s homecoming to its favorite host city.

As of press time, 69 men’s and 49 seniors teams have confirmed their participation in next month’s event. They include 31 contingents from overseas, including clubs in Sydney, Tokyo, Xiamen, Singapore, San Francisco, Vancouver, Riyadh and Dhahran.

The roster for the Cebu Interclub is the largest ever, surpassing the attendance in last year’s competition in Cagayan de Oro, which drew 59 men’s and 48 seniors teams.

The Interclub’s return to Cebu after a gap of 12 years renews an indelible link with the province stretching back to the tournament’s earliest days more than 50 years ago.

In 1949, Club Filipino de Cebu, then located at the present site of the Cebu Business Park in uptown Cebu City, hosted the second staging of the Interclub – the first time the tourney was held outside Manila.

Over the next five decades, the club hosted the event a record 15 times, the most by any golf course. Cebu Country Club, on the other hand, has staged the Interclub twice, in 1965 and 1983.

During a span of six consecutive years, from 1984 to 1989, Club Filipino was the official home of the tournament. But the course’s untimely closure in 1989 led to the tilt’s temporary exile from Cebu.

The completion of a new course in the rolling, highland terrain of Pulangyuta in the outskirts of this city in 1994 presaged the Interclub’s return to its former home.

“We are excited to come back to Cebu after being away for so long,” said PAL senior assistant vice president for Mindanao sales Domingo T. Duerme, chairman of the Interclub.

“Everything is set and we look forward to another week of outstanding competition and warm camaraderie that the PAL Interclub is known for.”

Canlubang and Luisita will defend their titles in the men’s and seniors divisions, respectively, in Cebu.