Learning from Hogan

The great Ben Hogan said, “Don’t be afraid. Fear will influence your muscular reactions, so dismiss all ideas and fears of shooting over water off the tee, at a green with water around it, or any other hazards. It is foolish to be frightened by hazards because most players have the club range to miss those hazards if they just swing freely.”

I am not suddenly finding inspiration from words of the man, whose name is on my Bettinardi putter, which I had such a hard time using yesterday.

But there is so much practicality in his statement, which makes me further wonder how come these words are easy to say, but so hard to follow?

If you play the game of golf, you know why. But if you don’t play the game or is still planning to pick it up soon, don’t hesitate to do so.

Golf makes philosophers out of ordinary men. Well, there are also many who become prayerful during the raffles.

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I was in the company of two fine gentlemen yesterday and they also play good golf.

Proof of that is they finished second and third in class A of the Cancham-PLDT Alpha Enterprise Golf Tournament, which used the System-36 format.

Andrew Aznar sprayed four birdies during the round, but two triple bogeys brought him down to a net two-under-par, which earned him the first runner-up honors.

Victor ‘Captain’ Gocela, skipper of the Alta Vista team in the Philippine Airlines Interclub, was second runner-up with his net one-under-par 71 strokes. 

He is one of those players, whose tips about your game are very useful, unfortunately, I still prefer facing off with a much larger opponent on the judo mats rather than a water hazard or a bunker that is between me an a huge green.

I’ll try to remember Ben Hogan’s words and see how I will translate it into a lower handicap, which I have long been dreaming of.

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Juvic Pagunsan, who is now playing in the British Open in Royal Lytham and St. Annes in Lancashire, England, fired one-over-par 71 strokes on the opening round.

I was hoping to catch Juvic on television late the other night until past midnight, but never caught a glimpse of him.

As of this writing, Juvic is playing at 2-over-par after 15 holes and is three-over-par for his aggregate.

The way it looks, making the cut would be tough being tied for the 82nd spot, but so much can still happen when the rest of the field will tee off, so I remain hopeful.

If it is any consolation, he is in a better position, again as of this writing, compared to big name stars like Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Ryo Ishikawa, and Angel Cabrera, to name a few.

It would be great to have a countryman to root for on the weekend of the Open.

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MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings to Archie Lim, Maggie Mañego-Cherniguin, Erick Matta, and Julius Toledo.

Advance greetings to those celebrating tomorrow like my fellow UP Cebu High School alumni Alfred Jacinto and Jeremy Robles.

More power to all of you!