Pros gear up for tough super tour

With the Strong Republic Nautical Highway Super Golf Tour just around the corner, most of the 40 pros seeing action have added something extra to their regular practice routines to prepare for the tough grind ahead.

Cassius Casas and Robert Pactolerin, favorites heading into the final 90 holes of this unique island-trotting event, have been on a rigorous training regimen, jockeying for inside position for the P500,000 top prize.

After playing in a similar tournament against the likes of Ernie Els a few years ago, Casas is on a strict training program that includes weightlifting, cardio-vascular exercises and a diet that is a far departure from what he is used to.

Pactolerin, on the other hand, is pushing himself to the limit, dragging his 42-year-old legs over the tree-lined layout of Villamor for 36 holes a day for the past three weeks to ensure that fatigue won’t be a factor in the Super Tour.

"Mabuti na itong handa ka. Kung matalo ka dahil may nagloko sa laro mo, ok lang yun. Pero kung matalo ka dahil ang rason mo eh pagod, aba, di maganda yun. Kasi ibig sabihin nun, pumunta ka sa giyera nang walang bala ang baril mo," said Pactolerin.

The Super Tour resumes on Monday as the intrepid pros travel to Lipa in Batangas for the second round at the Malarayat Golf Club.

Call it the calm before the storm, for the next five days will be bumpy, windy and wet.

Just a couple of hours after the final flight at the Malarayat turns over its scorecards, the entire entourage will be traveling by land to the Batangas port to board a Starlight Pacific vessel for a 2-1/2-hour journey to the Calapan port.

From 5:45 p.m. that afternoon, the golfers will either be on land or sea until 7:15 the following morning, before teeing off for the third 18 at the Fairways and Blue Water Golf Club in Boracay, Aklan at around 10 a.m.

They get their only rest the next day, but it won’t be in a cozy hotel, but in a Super Ferry going to Bacolod with the fourth round scheduled at testy Marapara Thursday morning.

From Bacolod, the group heads to Cagayan de Oro, playing the fifth 18 at the Pueblo de Oro course, before winding up at the Del Monte layout in Bukidnon the next morning.