The British Open

The Philippine Airlines (PAL) Interclub Golf Tournament will be celebrating its 60th anniversary next year in Northern Mindanao as Pueblo de Oro and Del Monte host the tournament for the third time.

PAL is now putting together a comprehensive souvenir program to mark this milestone of the tournament, which started in 1947.

To make this happen, the airline is also soliciting material in the form of personal stories, clippings, and photos that can be included for the souvenir program.

If you have such, then you can get in touch with the Corporate Communications office of PAL or you can send them through me and I'll gladly assist you.

I first became part of the PAL Interclub in 1994 in Bacolod City and have never missed the tournament since then.

Back in 1997, we called ourselves as the "Golden Boys" not because we were past 50 years old, but in honor of the 50th year of the tournament.

Time surely flies and I look forward to again be in the company of friends and colleagues when we head to the City of Golden Friendships on February next year.

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The British Open tees off on Thursday at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England. The course last hosted the Open in 1967 and hasn't held a professional event for the past 25 years.

The British Open in the oldest of the four majors and is very rich in tradition and lore.

Harry Vardon holds the distinction of having won the tournament the most times with six (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, and 1914) and also became the first person to have won the tournament is three different decades, a distinction that was followed by JH Taylor shortly after Vardon did it.

The last player to have won the title in three different decades is South Africa's Gary Player, who won the British Open in 1959, 1968, and 1974.

This tournament is often characterized by strong winds that could blow the chances of players away or sometimes allow newcomers to blow past the stars and shine.

The biggest margin of victory was recorded in 1862 when Tom Morris, Sr. won by 13 strokes. Five years later, he also earned the distinction of being the oldest winner of the tournament at the age of 46 years and 99 days old. This feat hasn't been broken yet.

Tom Morris, Jr., who won the title in 1868, holds the record for the youngest winner of the tournament at the age of 17 years, five months, and eight days.

Another notable historical tidbit about the Open is that Denny Shute scored identical rounds of 73 strokes for four days to win the title in 1933.

One of the most interesting developments for this year's tournament is the opening round pairing of Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo, two former winners.

What makes this interesting is the fact that Faldo, who has served as color commentator for the TV coverage of some golf events, has been critical of Tiger.

This should be good news for the Tiger fans. Woods is known to work very well when he wants to prove something to someone. Having him paired with Faldo for the first two rounds could be the sparkplug that will jumpstart his bid for the title this year.

By the way, the TV coverage of the British Open will start at 4 pm on Thursday over ESPN, according to a text message I got from Reny Sarmiento early yesterday morning.

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I would like to thank my classmates and teachers who took part in the Silver Jubilee Reunion of our elementary class last weekend at the USC-Basic Education Department South Campus.

It was a wonderful experience seeing old friends and former mentors, who helped shape us into what we are now. Thank you and God bless you all!