Tiger's 30 months and my 28 years

After 30 months or two years and a half of waiting, Tiger Woods has finally raised a championship trophy again by winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Although I wasn’t able to stay awake long enough to catch the action on television, I got word about Tiger’s triumph from my buddy Michael G. Go, who is not a Tiger fan.

Thanks a lot Mike for letting me know very early last Monday. At least I got a great second working day of the week as I am at work on Sundays unlike normal people.

Tiger’s triumph gives his still millions of fans worldwide not only a lot of reason to cheer, but more reason to again wake up early mornings or in my case stay up until morning to watch golf on TV.

With the Masters coming soon, it would be great to see Tiger wear the ‘Green Jacket’ again. For those, who don’t follow golf, the green jacket is given to the champion of the Masters, the first of four major golf tournaments of the year.

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Last Saturday, I joined the March Monthly Medal of Alta Vista Golf and Country Club, which followed the two-man best ball format.

After missing the tournaments in January and February due to conflicts in my schedule, it was great to be joining the monthly club event again and to be paired with the indefatigable Vicente ‘Vince’ Colina, who used to play basketball for the University of San Carlos Green and Gold Warriors.

Vince was not the only former Warrior in our flight as there was also his sangay (namesake) Vicente ‘Inting’ Go, who was paired with insurance man Antonio ‘Loloy’ Sabuga.

Vince and Inting were once stalwarts of their basketball team, but now enjoy golf and are also good at it.

By the way, Inting got re-elected into the board of Alta Vista last Monday along with Oly Dychangco, Ramon Sebastian, Atty. Mat Jo, Ricky Aznar, and Sta. Lucia’s big boss Excy Robles. Dr. Peter Aznar is the newest addition to the board replacing his brother Andrew.

The club members are looking forward to another fruitful year ahead.

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It was 23 years ago today when I started my career as a journalist being an intern of The FREEMAN.

I was supposed to work only for 120 hours to complete my print media internship. I have lost count of the number of hours I spent, but I am not really counting.

Many of my friends tell me that I am lucky to get paid for doing what I enjoy.

I would not be here without the patience of the management of The FREEMAN that gave me a chance to work my way up. It would not have been possible also without the news sources and the events to cover that allowed me to learn the ropes, rise after each fall, and become better in what I do.

One major factor also that has helped me do this is my family, which has put up with my limited income.

Here’s a secret that I will share with you, after 23 years there is still so much to learn and I hope to still become better.

To all of you, who have been there for me, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart!

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to my mistah Lt. Col. Eugene ‘Inyong’ Batara, Wellington ‘Willy’ Lim, Jochebed Yaun, O’Reza Soco-Tunello, Conchita ‘Chit’ Uy of Vanex Trading, and Anjanette ‘Jen-jen’ Perez-Olan, who all turned a year older last Monday.

The same goes to those who celebrated yesterday like my nephew Kenneth L. Alvarez, Atty. Ria Lidia Espina, Diosfa Cagigas, Frederick Boholst, Ena Karganilla-Krijger, and Glen Gandionco.

Today’s greetings go to Gie Aguilar-Martinez, Lynn Trixy Villegas-Mendoza, Ellen Patual-Dancel, Babbu Wenceslao, another mistah Cdr. Carlo Lagasca, Sharon Yap-Jakosalem, and my cousin and former F-1 columnist Anton Pages.

More power to all of you!