Media tournament

Davao City – No coverage of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) Interclub is complete if you don’t join the media tournament, which is held during the two-day break between the seniors’ and the men’s tournament.

Day one was played at the Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club that had us, sportswriters, not only scrambling for pars, well bogeys really and most of the time double-bogeys, but more importantly for words to explain what had happened.

As scores rose faster than the stock index during a bull market, it became evident that while we find time to play, work and the camaraderie is what brings us to some place around the Philippines for a week or more.

In other words, don’t bother asking us for our scores.

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Day two of our 36-hole event was held yesterday at the historic Apo Golf and Country Club, but as of this writing, Jake Ayson, who runs the media tournament, has not yet released the official scores.

In fact, over lunch at the Yellow Fin with our compadre Al Mendoza and Ken Angeles, who owns the popular restaurant, we forgot about what we just did and did not on the golf course and instead savored another thing that makes a trip to Davao always worthwhile – the great food.

I’m sure I did so much better on the second day than in the first, but this year I won’t be taking home any trophy, but just like in the past 18 years and the 16 that I have joined the media tournament, there are a lot of memories.

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The men’s tournament hasn’t started yet as I write this piece, but the sportswriters are also already talking about next year’s tournament, which will be hosted by four golf courses of Cebu.

In 2001, when the PAL Interclub was last held in the place I am very proud to call home, there were some things that got added to make the media tournament more colorful.

I’m sure many things can be arranged once Cebu prepares to be the host. 

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If you are still confused about the four categories of the PAL Interclub, here is something to guide you.

The top teams of the event are bracketed in the Championship Division. Also grouped here are new teams and those with many new players, who don’t have the PAL Points Average (PPA) yet.

The Founders Division is the second-ranked category. This is named such in honor of the people, who started the tournament 65 years ago.

It is followed by the Sportswriters Division, which is not by the way where we are playing, but is named such in honor of people like us, who have covered the PAL Interclub for the past 65 years.

The last group is the Friendship Division, which is named such, because more than the competition, this tournament is about friendship.

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MILESTONES: Belated happy birthday greetings go to Marjorie Aballe Avergonzado, Atty. Albert Veloso, Mars Cabildo-Rubica, and my cousin Lexleo Soria, who all turned a year older last Monday.

The same goes to yesterday’s birthday celebrants like Rochelle ‘Raki’ Vega-Siu, Michaelangelo Siapno, Vicente Colonia, and Jaja Oppus-Lanozo.

More power to all of you! - THE FREEMAN