Mango Tee winners asked to return trophies

The board of directors of the Alabang Country Club Inc. (ACC) unanimously voted to withdraw the awards conferred to the winners of the 38th Mango Tee following a huge outcry from other golfers who participated in the prestigious member-guest tournament.

In an emergency meeting on Monday, the board, headed by ACC president Edward Puno, decided that the scores posted by the tandems of Ronin Leviste and guest partner Darren Flores as well as that of Luis Raymund Villafuerte and guest partner Edward Francisco were “highly unusual and statistically improbable” under the game’s handicapping system.

Leviste, a former vice mayor of Lian, Batangas and son of former Batangas Vice Governor Mark Leviste, declared a handicap index of 24 but scored a whopping 52 points from a gross of 8-over par 80 on the first day of the event. His score raised a red flag since sideliners had never seen a high-handicapper submitting a score of 8-over in the nearly four decades of the Mango Tee.

Overall, the team of Leviste (52-47) and Flores (41-40) registered a combined 180 points over two rounds to emerge with the tournament’s lowest net score, while Camarines Sur Governor Villafuerte (39-44) and Francisco (47-45) had a two-day total of 175 to settle for the second spot.

Leviste was the lone player to climb the stage during awarding ceremony but was met with a chorus of boos from other participants that turned him into a laughingstock in the local golf community. The incident also compromised the integrity of the ACC, which is regarded as one of the most prestigious golf clubs in the country.

With that, the ACC board “decided and unanimously agreed to withdraw the awards conferred” on the two teams. It also declared Jem Reyes and Bino dela Paz as new net overall champions as well as Noel Malabag and Jerry Tan as Division III winners and Jerome Hernandez and Masaichi Otake as Division I champions.

“Resolved finally that the teams of Mr. Ronin Leviste and partner Mr. Darren Flores, and Mr. Luis Raymund Villafuerte and partner, Mr. Edward Francisco, are asked to return the trophies awarded to them during the Mango Tee awarding rites held on 08 February 2026,” the ACC board said in its resolution.

Although some ACC members are said to be demanding that the players involved be suspended or banned in the club’s future competitions, the ACC board did not hand additional penalties other than the return of the trophies.