Golfers revisit scene of triumph

BUSAN - Only few remember it now but one of the most dramatic finishes for the Philippines happened in this country 16 years ago.

There was a swift shift of fate in golf’s final round when former amateur Ramon Brobio, then the youngest in the field at 15, rallied from three strokes down in the last two holes to humble the favorite and the oldest in the fold, Korean Kim Ki Sung, in sudden death.

"There were I think only 10 Filipinos and some 3,000 Koreans on the final day and all converged on the playoff holes rooting for their compatriot. At his age, Mon showed nerves of steel," said NGAP executive director Jake Ayson recalling the finale at the Han Yang course in Seoul.

Brobio, who would turn pro and at one time lead the professional golf body, worked out the shock of being penalized earlier in the day when he failed to replace his ball to its original lie on the green and he was on the verge of tears.

But on the 71st hole, the Korean, needing only to par the last two holes to claim the gold hit wild drive that went out-of-bounds, and Brobio pulled off a three-shot swing with a six-foot birdie on the same hole.

They both parred the 72nd that led to the sudden death which Brobio won when Kim three-putted for a bogey.

That strong finish is being dug up from the Asiad archives because the memory may serve as a guiding light to the new troop at hands going up against the powerhouse Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese in the event beginning Oct. 3.

The RP team has been without a gold since Brobio made that exploit in 1986 although Gerald Rosales and his team came close to ending the drought with silver medal finishes in Bangkok four years ago.

They also have a good shot at it this time with a solid team made up of battle-tested veterans and a rookie who has been the hottest in workout in the run-up for the Busan Games.

The members are Angelo Que, whose stirring six-birdie run for a 69 sparked RP’s final day charge, Marlon Dizon, the hero of the team’s gold-medal finish in the Brunei SEA Games three years ago, Juvic Pagunsan, Kuala Lumpur SEAG gold medalist and rookie Jerome Delariarte.

"We have been working out the past two months and I think we will have a pretty solid team. We are playing well at lahat may title -score, lahat puedeng mag-under par," said Que.

The two-time national champion is on the final year as an amateur and this will be the first of his last two tournaments - the second being the World Amateur in October in Malaysia. He has answered the call of duty and rose above politics that forced him to skip the SEA Games last year.

Dizon, an Ateneo graduate, agreed with Que’s observation and said their two-day practice round at the site of the championship gave them some sort of a working knowledge about the layout.

"They used native Korean grass and it is spongy‚ so somehow you expect some flyers but overall we are in pretty good shape and we can hold our own," said Dizon.