Nineteen clubs will clash for the title and an all-expense paid golf vacation in Thailand that members of the winning team will be rewarded with in the Federation National Team Shootout grand finals on Thursday at the Couples course of the Riviera Golf and Country Club in Silang, Cavite.
All 19 participating clubs have staged their respective qualifying stages the last two months and it now comes down to the battle for supremacy at the 18-hole finale presented by Empire Golf Sports Shop, the local distributor of Titleist, where the four-man teams will play the scramble format.
This year’s staging marks the revival of the event organized by the Federation of Golf Clubs in the Philippines, Inc. as a way of bringing together its member clubs all over the country.
Competing for Luzon are teams from Alabang, Beverly Place, Eagle Ridge, Forest Hills, Manila Golf, Mt. Malarayat, Orchard, Manila Southwoods, Riviera, Royal Northwoods, Sta. Elena, Tagaytay Highlands, Tagaytay Midlands, Valley, Wack Wack and host Riviera.
Carrying the Visayan banner are Alta Vista, Cebu Country Club, Iloilo and Negros Occidental.
Riviera is providing a free practice round for the finalists on Wednesday, with the FGCP hosting a welcome dinner in the evening.
Tournament rules require each team to be made up of four players with a combined total handicap index of at least 50 or higher. The FGCP will assign handicap indexes to a team based on their totals that will serve as their team handicap with the maximum handicap pegged at 10.
FGCP is also allowing a combination of men, ladies, junior dependent (must be 12-17 years old by October 9, 2019) and seniors (must be 55 years old by October 9, 2019) per team. The men and boy dependents will tee off from the blue tees, the ladies and girl dependents from the red and the seniors from the white.
Among the rules adopted for this year’s edition of the Shootout is allowing a club with more than one course to field another team. Also to be allowed is a substitution for one member of a team that reaches the finals provided the original combined total handicap index range is met.