The Alabang Country Club (ACC) has officially stripped the top winners of its signature Mango Tee tournament of their titles, following statistical review that found certain scores to be “statistically improbable.”

In a resolution obtained by Manila Bulletin dated Feb. 11, the club’s board of directors unanimously voted to withdraw awards from Overall Net Champions Ronin Leviste and partner Darren Flores, as well as Division III winners Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte and Edward Francisco.

The decision comes after the Feb. 7 awarding ceremony was marred by public jeers from a crowd of over 1,000 golfers.

The controversy centers on the performance of Leviste, who entered the 38th edition of the tournament with a handicap index of 24. Internal club documents and a subsequent statistical audit revealed that Leviste carded gross scores of 85 and 80 over the two-day event.

The board’s analysis concluded that the probability of a golfer with a 24-handicap achieving those back-to-back scores is approximately 1 in 12 million.

Club officials noted that Leviste outperformed his handicap by a combined 29 strokes. The board described the margin as consistent with “sandbagging,” a term used in golf for the practice of maintaining an artificially high handicap to gain an advantage in net-score competitions.

The integrity of the scoring was further questioned by participants due to the fact that Leviste’s father, Mark Leviste, served as the vice chairman of the tournament committee.

Villafuerte, who was among those disqualified, has demanded a clarificatory resolution from the board to explicitly state he was not involved in “irregularity, cheating, or improper conduct.”

While Villafuerte agreed to return his trophy, he argued that his team’s performance was legitimate and claimed they were unfairly caught in the fallout of the Leviste controversy.

However, the Alabang board maintained its stance, citing findings from the golf director that the scores of Villafuerte’s partner, Edward Francisco, were also highly unusual.

The board further determined that Francisco holds a “non-amateur” status, a designation that triggers an automatic disqualification under tournament rules.

The fallout was seen as a blow to the reputation of the Mango Tee, one of the country's most prestigious amateur golf events.

During the final night of the tournament, the announcement of the winners was met with vocal protest from the membership. Allegations had already been circulating that an initial attempt by the handicap committee to adjust Leviste’s handicap downward during the tournament had been intervened upon or blocked.

ACCI Chairman Herminio Coloma, in his letters with the disqualified parties, said that the Mango Tee is a team-based format where an infraction by one player necessitates the penalization of the pair.