On to the fairways

After spending a lot of time in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games, I am looking forward to the sweet smell of the grass on the fairways and greens to unwind after a very hectic two weeks.

Ed Misa, president of the Mercedes Plantation Golf and Country Club in the town of Medellin, Cebu, sent me a text message yesterday inviting me to a weekend of relaxation in the northern town to join the Manoys Golf Tournament.

This is the nth time that Ed has invited me to Mercedes, which was the first team to give me a chance to play in the Philippine Airlines Interclub Golf Tournament back in 1999.

It's just too bad that this weekend is already booked in my schedule since the Christmas Fun Golf Classic is taking place at Alta Vista Golf and Country Club.

I called up the Alta Vista registration counter shortly before writing this column and learned that there are still a few slots available for the Saturday schedule. This should give those who are taking their sweet time before registering to join the event.

Also set this weekend is the clash of the 80s and the 90s at the Cebu Country Club. This is not a battle of music and fashion, but a battle among the junior golf standouts of the two decades.

This will be a Ryder Cup-style event that would run for two days and is dubbed as the Garcia Cup after Jose 'Cheling' E. Garcia, a former president of CCC.

Only pride is at stake in this battle and this early, the participants are already aching to start playing.

Richard Unchuan, the youngest ever club champion in the matchplay era, is the skipper of the team from the 80s while the long-hitting Marko Sarmiento will skipper the 90s squad.

While this is only the second staging of the Garcia Cup, the last was two years ago, this is some sort of a tie-breaker for the two teams.

When they first met five years ago in an event organized by the venerable Reny Sarmiento, the 80s team prevailed and the 90s squad was made to crawl under their legs and serve them dinner. What a punishment for losing, which reminds me of my early days in the game when my compadre Koko Holganza and I agreed to crawl under the legs of the player who would have a better gross score.

Nobody ever did it since we just added and subtracted the differences after each round was played until we lost count and forgot who was better or who was worse.

Two years ago, the 90s team pulled a 13-11 victory, but I have no information as to what happened during the award rites.

So, this is going to be a tie-breaker then and the winner will have the bragging rites until the next staging of the event.

The cast is like that of a blockbuster movie considering the big names of Cebu golf that are participating.

The 80s team will have ex-pro Carl Almario, Eric Deen, Enrico Solon, Dr. Tony San Juan, Macky Michael, Gabriel Yap, Jr., Jonji Chiongbian, Justin Neri, Iker Aboitiz, Marcelino Ugarte, Frederic Chiongbian, Councilor Nino Bascon, Gassy Lizares, and Jovie Unchuan.

The other players in the 90s side are Jovi Neri, Andre Borromeo, Jojo Tiongko, Mark Dy, Raymond Garcia, Arlo Sarmiento, Marc Gonzalez, Maite Moraza-Unchuan, Jon Syjuco, Paolo Borromeo, Richie Go, Ace Serafin, Quinito Moras, and Jacob Pimentel.

I'd like to see the husband and wife tandem of Jovie Unchuan and Maite Moraza-Unchuan paired up for one of the matches and see how it goes.

Good luck to all of you guys and enjoy the battle.