A gathering of golf buff friends
We just held the year’s STV Invitational Golf Cup at the Riviera Golf and Country Club last Friday, May 9 and for the 3rd straight year the gods of good weather were once again all smiles by providing a perfect day for playing golf.
We started what’s turning out now to be a traditional annual event three years ago when I decided to host an invitational tournament among friends and supporters from the predominantly golf-playing motoring industry as part of the 25th Anniversary celebration of Sunshine Television’s (STV) flagship program, Motoring Today. Now these friends and supporters look forward to have this yearly summer day of playing golf together and we are just too happy to host it.
Some of the local auto industry’s top honchos who came to play and to bond include Nobuo Izumina, president of Isuzu Philippines Corporation, Greg Yu, chairman of Cats Motors and Danny “Sir John†Isla, president of Lexus-Manila. The newly designated president of Honda Cars Philippines, Toshio Kawahara, gamely came just to have lunch and bond due to a nagging elbow ailment, which he hopes to be temporary. He promised to play the next time though. Volkswagen Philippines’ top marketing honcho, Arnel Doria, though salivating to play, took a “French leave†from their German guests who were here for a series of meetings just came for merrienda if only to be part of the traditional event.
The tourney was strictly invitational and this we specified in the invitations by saying it was non-transferable to ensure as much as possible that everybody knows everybody making the tournament a real intimate one.
At least two top-ranking auto industry executives who were not able to make it admitted that they had a “bad trip†when they were advised just a day before the tournament that they had to attend an important meeting the next day. That’s a bad joke for a golf addict who has got a mind-set of a day of swinging at the fairways.
Riviera Golf & Country Club president, Commodore Danny Pizarro, who has been supporting us by making sure his very competent staff was professionally running the tournament as they’ve always done for the previous two years we had it there, dropped by during the day to find out if everything was well. It turned out to be a great opportunity for two old friends to see each other again. Veteran journalist and top-notched sports and motoring columnist, Al “Sir Paul†Mendoza was ecstatic as the Commodore to briefly reprise old times if only in their minds in their brief encounter.
Being mostly avid golfers, there was some level of serious competition in some flights where wagers were more for bragging rights rather than serious money. But as in most golf tournaments there are fun awards and ours was no exception. The award for the “longest drive†at 280 yards went to Ryan Lorenzo of Ford Philippines, the “most accurate drive†of 7 inches went to Ronnie Matias of AGC, the company that for the longest time supported us for all our events’ trophy requirements, while our lone lady participant, Ms. Glenda Da Roza, romped off with the “nearest the pin†award with a 3 feet feat and Auto Review’s Ron delos Reyes went home with the award for the “longest putt†of 10 feet. 
Now for the serious side of the competition the following came out winners in the “System 36†tournament format as computed by the scoring staff of the Riviera Golf & Country Club.
The Class C Champion was Emy Arcilla of Cats Motors, with Osamu Shinohara, president of Toyota Manila Bay as 1st Runner up and Jesus Antonio of AGC as 2nd Runner up.
The Class B Champion was Danny “Sir John†Isla, president of Lexus-Manila followed by Greg Yu, chairman of Cats Motors as 1st Runner up and Art Balmadrid, senior vice president of Isuzu Philippines Corporation the 2nd Runner up.
The Class A Champion was Bonnie Pimentel, proprietor of Illustrado Restaurant with Gerry Aquino of La Suerte as 1st Runner up and Alex Dandan of Melo Konstruct the 2nd Runner up.
Anton Cabangon, publisher of Business-Mirror was declared the Over-all Champion of the 2014 STV Invitational Golf Cup.
Just like other STV events like the Auto Focus People’s Choice & Media’s Choice Awards, Auto Focus Motor Show & Auto Expo, STV Auto Rally Corporate Challenge, YSS Road Safety School Tour, this event, which is STV’s own little way of giving back to all those who have supported us and continue to do so by gathering them yearly for a day of wholesome fun and camaraderie while engaging in a friendly game of golf will soon become another institutional event. See you all again next year! 
Happy Motoring!!!
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