By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

MICRONESIAN Games gold medallist Jess Wabol ruled the centerpiece Championship Flight of the 5th Annual NMC Foundation Open outclassing George Taguchi in the playoffs last Saturday at the LaoLao Bay Golf Resort.
Wabol and Taguchi finished the tournament with identical scores of 5-over par 77. To break the tie, the two golfers had to go back to the west course and play again.
They started on hole No. 17, but the playoffs ended in a tie anew, as Wabol and Taguchi both shot pars on the par-3 202-yard hole.
The next playoff hole was the par-5 512-yard No. 18 and this time Wabol prevailed hitting another par. Taguchi lost in the tiebreak as he had a triple bogey on No. 18 and settled for second place.
The third place trophy went to the Guam-based Sasaki Oliver, who was two strokes behind Taguchi and Wabol with his 7-over par 79.
Wabol also won last year’s Championship Flight shooting a 2-under par 70.
Incidentally, he prevailed against the same foes. Taguchi and Sasaki were tied for second with identical scores of 1-over par 73, but the former won the scorecard tiebreak.
In last Saturday’s tournament, Wabol scored a 39 on the front for a one-shot lead over Taguchi, who had a 40. But Taguchi forced a tie when he nailed a 37 on the back compared to the former’s 38. Sasaki struggled on the front nine with a 42, but redeemed himself on the back nine with a 37.
Seven other golfers joined the Championship Flight with Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho placing fourth with his 80, followed by Park Joung Hoon (81), Andy Nepaial (83), Jeff Taylor (85), Adam Hardwicke (88), Danny Singh (91) and Paul Camacho (93).
Other top winners in the 2007 edition of the fundraising tournament were Tadashi Umezawa, Jin Anh, Ricardo Reyes, Tony Satur, Shiori Onoue and Lorraine Babauta.
Umezawa shot a 79 to beat 16 other participants in the A Flight. John Sheather and Federico Flores placed second and third, respectively, scoring an 82 and 82.
Junior golfer Jin Anh topped the B Flight with his 78. Behind by one stroke was second placer Freddie Catawna, while another junior golfer, Dominic Von Siebenthal won finishing third with his 81.
Twenty-three golfers competed in the B Flight.
The C Flight had 32 participants with Reyes prevailing with his 84, followed by Francisco Guerrero (88) and Das Krishnan (89).
Satur beat 12 others in the Seniors Flight after drilling an 81. He was a stroke ahead of former Superior Court presiding judge Edward Manibusan (82). Steve Balakrishna placed third with his 83.
Babauta placed first in the low net category with her 65.6, while Sherlyn Jones was the runnerup with her 66.4. Onoue had the lowest gross score with 79 for a three-shot win over junior golfer Leina Kim.
The top three winners received cash prizes and trophies.