Taylor wins rain-soaked Open

With some advice from golf great Bruce Devlin and a little help from tropical storm Tingting, Jeff Taylor won this weekend’s 2nd Annual NMC Foundation Open at the Kingfisher Golf Links.

Taylor was joined in the winners circle by five other champions: Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente (A Flight); Clifford Camacho (B Flight), Mark Erwin (C Flight), Edward Manibusan (Seniors Flight), and Noriko Togawa (Ladies Flight).

With the second round suspended because of bad weather Sunday, Taylor was hailed the winner of the Championship Flight by virtue of the four-under 68 he scored in Saturday’s opening round.

Taylor scored an even 36 in the front nine before making mincemeat of the course with a 32 in the back nine.

He went on to score seven birdies, made eight par holes and had just three bogeys in what turned out to be the title-clinching first round.

During the awards banquet held at the Hyatt Regency Saipan the evening of Sunday, Taylor credited Devlin for helping him correct his swinging motion.

He said he approached the eight-time PGA Tour champion the day before the event and Devlin gave him a tip that cured his swing that was terribly going left.

“I wasn’t really expecting to play well. I played three days before the tournament and shot an 84. I entered the Open hoping not to embarrass myself.”

But it was a different kind of self-consciousness that the 38-year-old junior golf instructor experienced Saturday.

With Devlin doing the rounds, Taylor proceeded to play the best round of tournament golf in his life.

“I started hitting good shots. I was really hitting the ball well. I just started making all the putts I looked at. I made 26 putts the whole round and that’s an unbelievably good number whichever way you look at it.”

In fact, amazing as it sounds Taylor’s 68 could’ve been even lower. He said he was flirting with a 67 before missing an 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

Suva South Pacific Games veterans Jess Wabol and Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho were actually within striking distance of Taylor after the first round with scores of two-under 70 and one-under 71, respectively.

With his bad back finally good to go, Wabol finished second behind Taylor after coming up with a 37 in the front nine and a 33 in the back. He had 12 pars, four birdies, and two bogeys.

“Tough luck. The course is all flooded and the downpour is just getting worse. I could’ve made a run at Jeff’s score but we’ll never really know what could’ve happened.”

Camacho shares his friend’s sentiments. He said he didn’t do too shabbily in the first round and was looking forward to playing better Sunday before Tingting canceled the tournament.

For the record, Camacho fired a 36 in the front and a 35 in the back nine. He had four birdies that went along with his 11 pars and three bogeys.

The two could’ve caught Taylor in the second round but with the way the DFS Hotel Store Division manager was making putts left and right Saturday, Wabol and Camacho would’ve needed to play to perfection to beat him.

The Commonwealth’s second-ranking official, meanwhile, bested Aiba Hiroshi and Ben Jones for the A Flight plum. Benavente fired a 79, while Hiroshi edged Jones in a scorecard tiebreak after both of them wound up with identical 80s.

Clifford Camacho ruled B Flight after registering an 80. He was followed by Dai-Ichi Saipan Beach Hotel general manager Mark Swinton (81), and Mike Cruz (87) of Fil-Taga Golfers Association.

Erwin (81) held court in C Flight with Bill Camacho (86) and Hua Guo Lin (86) finishing second and third, respectively.

Seniors Flight had former Supreme Court Associate Justice Manibusan banging the gavel with his even-par 72. SPG teammates Eddie Peter and Nick Sablan also did well coming in second and third with scores of 77 and 78, respectively.

Togawa then proved that she still has no peer in the Ladies Flight after winning the division with her 79. Hideko Kiyomoto (87) and Joanna (Pai) were a distant second and third.