The Coral and the CCM

The spotlight of Philippine golf is now on Cebu as the 31st Coral Invitational tees off today at the Cebu Country Club.

This is the first of the many member-guest tournaments of golf clubs around the country for the year and is one of the most prestigious owing to the number of years it has been in existence and the fact that several of the top players of the country gather here for the event.

This is a four-day tournament where each team is composed of a club member and a guest.

The Modified Stableford Scoring System will be used and the team with the best total score after two rounds will be declared as the overall champion.

What makes the Coral Invitational more interesting is the Calcutta, which is held after the second day of the tournament. Here, people would bid for the top teams and the owners of the top three teams with the best second day score would share the total.

I am not sure if they have this in other parts of the country, but here, Cebu Country Club has done it so well.

I’m looking forward to seeing old friends the next four days. The Coral Invitational, after all, is a fellowship activity.

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After failing for three years, I pulled myself out of the bed by 2 a.m. last Sunday and was at the Cebu City Marathon, which started and finished at the Asiatown IT Park.

Although I have been writing about the event the past four years, it was really my first CCM.

It was good that despite the heavy rains the night before and early that day, the weather cooperated.

Well, the grounds where the people converged were very muddy, but nobody seemed to have cared much as there were much to enjoy for participants and spectators alike.

Since I was mainly at the IT Park, it was only around 9 a.m. that I had a chance to see the situation on some parts of the race route when I was heading home to get back to bed and catch some sleep.

There were marshals stationed on street corners and the route used by the runners was cordoned for their safety.

There was some traffic at Escario St., but I did not hear the horns blaring, which means that those on their cars were probably also enjoying the sight.

Seeing so many of my friends taking part in the event from the 5-K fun run to the 21-K half marathon and the 42-K full marathon, I realized how much I am missing.

There are just some things that the organizers might consider doing next year and among them should be allowing only accredited media and photographers at the start/finish area.

Despite the lack of sleep and having to stand for hours, I actually had a lot of fun at the CCM. Until next year then!

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to Councilor Marjorie Piczon-Perales of Toledo City, Centcom spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Tampus, Arniel Dagooc, Cris Cobile, Karen Joy Jajalla, and Mike Olitres, who celebrated last Monday.

The same goes to those who turned a year older yesterday like Gerry Quintos, Mia Larrazabal-Carcel, Ping Villegas, Ruby Bacolod, and Arlene Macaibay.

Congratulations also to Maj. Gen. Lauro Catalino de la Cruz, who took over as commanding general of the Philippine Air Force yesterday.

More power to all of you! - THE FREEMAN