A chat with a living legend

Many of the younger golfers of Cebu and the rest of the country probably haven’t heard of Rudolfo ‘Rudy’ Labares.

I had the chance to talk with the living legend yesterday at the Cebu Country Club in connection with Full Point: The Cebu Sports Show, which airs over Wealth TV Channel 28 on SkyCable and Destiny Cable.

Since I have a very long career as a sports journalist, many times in the past I have written about Labares and heard of his exploits.

Now at 66 years old, Labares whiles the time away as a marshal of Cebu Country Club.

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For the July issue of the CCC newsletter, a page has been dedicated to Labares, who started as a ball boy at the age of 10 and five years later became a caddie.

In another five years, Labares, who spent a lot of time honing his skills, was already competing and winning tournaments.

One thing that struck me during our interview was when he said that he used to practice from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Many of us can’t even spend an hour on the driving range and hope to finish playing as fast as we could, but not Rudy.

He was Philippine Open champion in 1977 winning by a margin of 17 strokes and on that same year, he and fellow Cebuano Ben Arda helped the Philippines to a runner-up finish in the World Cup of Golf played at the Wack-Wack Golf Club. The team title was won by Spain that then paraded the legendary Seve Ballesteros.

In that same tournament, Labares was also the runner-up of the individual category, finishing behind Gary Player of South Africa. 

How I wish I was old enough to be a sportswriter back in the 1970s, but then I was still a grade school pupil enjoying holing out marbles on small holes that we bore on the soil and not hitting white balls with golf clubs.

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When I checked the names of those enshrined into the Cebu Sports Hall of Fame, I fond out that Rudy is not yet there.

Arda, the founders of Club Filipino and Celestino Tugot are the golfers who have already been enshrined.

Tugot, by the way, was the first Filipino athlete to have been given audience by a president of the United States and not boxer Manny Pacquiao.

I saw pictures of this at the famed Del Monte Golf Club in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon when I went there for the PAL Interclub earlier this year.

By next year, Rudy shall hopefully be enshrined into the Cebu Sports Hall of Fame and I’d like to remind others, who have nominees to also submit them to the office of the Cebu City Sports Commission.

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MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings to my classmates Dennis Pastor and Redempta Enriquez-Macias, who are both turning a year older today.

The same goes to my good friend Analee Duran-Flores, USJ-R’s Tony Esmero, and fellow PMA Cebu Squad member Ann Andres-Arribas.

Advance greetings go to those who are celebrating tomorrow like Albuen Bejar, Julien Almeda-Cole, and my mistah Lt. Col. Lloyd Cabacuñgan of the Philippine Air Force.

More power to all of you! - THE FREEMAN