Serious golf business

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Cebu Country Club once again lifted the spirits of the Cebuano golfing community in the seniors edition of the annual Philippine Airlines Interclub Golf Tournament by taking the first runner-up honors of the Founders Division.

Despite a tight schedule, I made it here in time for the awards ceremony last Sunday traveling from Baguio City to Cagayan de Oro via Manila then Cebu.

My body is still to beat up to think of doing the same thing again in the near future as I realized that hours that you spend sleeping on the bus and the plane don’t amount to much compared to being on the comfort of a bed.

Now that I am here, it’s back to serious golf business. 

You might think that hundreds that gather for the PAL Interclub every year are here for fun. Well, partly it is fun, but many are here with serious business in mind.

Through the years that I have covered the tournament (18 years straight), I have seen how teams come up with strategies to make sure they get the most from their players and earn the points that they’d need to win.

There are also match ups that have to be considered and the fielding of players for a certain golf course that is also important as the two host courses have layouts that match the game of certain people.

You come across how players sacrifice individual glory for the sake of the team by deciding to play only in one of the two golf courses to get more points for the squad.

There are the endless team meetings and strategizing that could drive you crazy if you are not much of a golf nut. Maybe someday, there would be a statistics program that can help teams make better decisions with regards to the chances of scoring in a particular course.

I hope this explains the reason why the PAL Interclub continues to grow through the years and why teams try so hard to make it here. Of course, you cannot scratch out the fact that there are so many teams that are here for the fun.

These are the fun of being with old friends from different parts of the country and the world and probably that of facing the challenges that the host clubs have to offer.

Yes, there are also the awards ceremonies that also offer something exciting for the players.

The men’s regular event will officially start today yet, but the sportswriters covering the event and taking part in the media tournament are already talking about next year.

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The media committee of the PAL Interclub honored the other night one of its pillars, who has contributed much to the success of the tournament for many years.

Cebuano Simoun ‘Jun’ Canton, who has retired from PAL, was awarded a plaque during the media dinner with top officials of the airline including the new VP for corporate communications Joey de Guzman and PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna.

Jun was responsible for breaking me into this annual coverage back in 1994 shortly after I took over as sports editor of this paper.

I haven’t missed the PAL Interclub since then, but next year I am hoping it will go back to Cebu, which used to be the permanent host of the tournament when the old Club Filipino course was still at the heart of the city where the Cebu Business Park is now situated.

Thank you Jun for everything and we hope to see you next year as you have volunteered to help out!

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MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings go to Councilor Tonypet Ouano of Jetafe, Bohol, who turns a year older today. The same goes to my Tao sister Gen-gen Tabada.

More power to all of you! – THE FREEMAN