Manila sojourn fruitful for Hyatt Saipan

Hyatt Regency Saipan won the 2nd Annual Club at the Hyatt Golf Tournament held on Oct. 29-30 at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club in Tagaytay City, Philippines.

The team from Saipan bested defending champion Hyatt Regency Guam and host Hyatt Regency Manila for the golf championship.

Saipan finished with a better score than second place Manila, 1,410-1,428, while Guam finished third with 1,457.

Leading the way for the Team Saipan was 2003 Suva South Pacific Games veteran and 2004 Tournament of Champions winner Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho, B Flight specialist Diego Blanco, and woman ace golfer Noriko Togawa.

Camacho blazed the greens and fairways of Sherwood Hills, carding a two-round total of 12-under 132 to win the championship in Class-A.

The Commonwealth Utility Corp. employee finished with a superb five-under 67 in the first day. He then topped that score by coming up with a seven-under 65 in the second day of competition.

Camacho bested Arnel Paras and Jung Moon Park, both of Manila, for the title. Paras, Park, Juan Benavente of Saipan, and Sang Jin Lee of Manila actually finished with identical 138s but the Paras and Park took second and third in a scorecard tiebreak.

Former resident and Fil-Taga Golfers Association member Richard Heidemann renewed his ties with the Commonwealth and was the second best finisher from Saipan with his three-under 141, which was good enough to land him seventh in the division.

Rex Palacios (143), Timothy Brasuell (143), Juan Reyes (143), Lt. Gov. Diego Benavente (144), Frank Castro (144), Camacho’s SPG teammate Nick Sablan (144), Renato Babalones (145), Sung Wook Lee, (146), Manny Alvarez (146), Bob George (147), and Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan (147) also saw action in Class-A for Saipan.

The Commonwealth had no such luck in Class-B however, as Manila and Guam took the Top 2 spots. Mark Footner won the flight, while Guam’s Bruce Kloppenheeg was second. Saipan’s Diego Blanco settled for third place.

Footner, Kloppenheeg, Blanco, fourth place Ron Ostern from Guam and John Matsumoto of Saipan all carded identical 148s but Footner, Kloppenheeg, and Blanco took the first three places via scorecard tiebreaks.

Other participants from Saipan were Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director were Carlos Salas (150), John Santos (150), Matt Araki (150), Frankie Pangelinan (151), Daniel Harding (151), Charles Cepeda (153), Mike Pai (154), Michael Von Siebenthal (158), Mark Hanson (163), and Sam Cheng (205).

Togawa, for her part, bagged the women’s division title after she finished par for the course with a 144. She went 72 on both rounds to best fellow Saipan resident Joanna Pai, who was four strokes behind at 148.

Saipan actually swept the Top 4 spots in the ladies division with Belle Grandinetti and Liz George coming away with 152 and 153, respectively. Yoko Togawa came in sixth best with her 159.