DAVAO—Edgar Ababa waited 13 years to claim another victory as a professional, but needed the big help of Paul Echavez as they streaked to a five-stroke victory with a closing one-over-par 73 yesterday in the P1 million Davao National Pro-am co-presented by Samsung and Emcor at the Apo Golf and Country Club course here.
Ababa and Echavez, whose families live in the environs of the Apo course, was the pair that clicked in the 54-hole tourney using the alternate shots format with their second 73 in three days, giving them a 218 aggregate and counting the even-par 72 they assembled in the second round at the tree-lined layout.
“We knew the course very well and it gave us a lot of confidence,” said Ababa, who won his only title as a pro in the 1997 Epson Classic at Alabang.
Ababa and Echavez finished five strokes ahead of the semi-retired Dan Cruz and national pool member Jerson Balasabas, who submitted the day’s best round of 72 for solo second place at 223.
Dante Torres and Alejandro Saban, the first-round leaders, claimed solo third at 224 after a 77 in the tourney, which marked Samsung’s return to local pro golf.
Celso Villegas, president and COO of Emcor, said they will exhaust all possible means to make the pro-am an annual competition. He credited the support of Kawasaki, Tri-com, BCLN Golf, LVL Construction, Malayan Insurance, Allegoiance Cargo, Edcon, Mega Joy Trading, Aldwin Oriental Graphics, Canon, Tran World Brokerage Corp., Cargo Serve, MDR, Banbros, Goetz and MSI-ECS for making the inaugural edition possible.
The 45-year-old Ababa took home P172,000 as the winning pro while Echavez, a 22-year-old member of the ICTSI Canlubang squad, went home with P20,000 worth of merchandise. Cruz, a teaching pro at Eagle Ridge, settled for the runner-up prize of P160,000.
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