NICE that the Philippine Airlines (PAL) Interclub golf events have resumed full blast. It is good for the sport. It is good for the game’s practitioners. It is good for Philippine sports.
While the tournament has always been a showcase for established stars to unravel their heart-stopping skills yearly for 70-plus years now, it also has been a vehicle to discover talents deemed destined for greatness.
How many of our golfing legends have emerged as gallant products of the PAL Interclub?
Too many too mention. Luis “Golem” Silverio, Tomas Manotoc and Frankie Minoza are but three of them.
These PAL Interclub alumni—Manotoc is still courageously at it even as he is 70sh now—have graced the world stage of the game and, in the process, have brought honor to the country.
The PAL Men’s Seniors ending February 25 features the nation’s most passionate practitioners of the sport aged 55 and above; they stubbornly defy Father Time’s admonitions.
The PAL Men’s regular is set from February 26 to March 4, which is the centerpiece event in the tournament’s 74th edition.
As I said, you will see all shades of golfers eager to trade shots in another hot but friendly atmosphere of competition, persevering to forget the unsweet sorrow of a cherished tilt shuttered haplessly during the two-and-a-half year pandemic.
I have a special affection for the PAL Interclub not only because I’ve been covering it since 1977, but also because I’ve been religiously playing in the event’s side event, the PAL Media Golf.
And, modesty aside, I won it during the tournament’s Golden Anniversary in 1997 held in Bacolod and Victorias.
So imagine the thrill I had when I received the invite for me to play in the February 26-27 tournament from Jose Enrique L. Perez de Tagle, the amiable PAL vice president for corporate communications. My heart had skipped a beat.
I said to myself that even as I have only played two rounds of golf since March 6, 2020, I will not miss it for the life of me.
My 1997 PAL Media victory remains as my most memorable golf triumph ever as it earned me two PAL business class tickets Manila-New York-Manila. A career highlight etched in stone.
If only for that, I swear never to miss a PAL Media Golf. Cross my heart.
THAT’S IT Do you know that Jorge Gallent, the newly-minted San Miguel Beer coach, won the low-gross honors in the just-ended Mango Tee at Alabang, shooting 74-64 to win by a whopping seven strokes over his closest pursuer? He’s not even a zero-handicapper; he has a -3 handicap. No wonder he’s that good, too, in basketball coaching. Cheers coach!… Condolence to the loved ones of my balae Tony Royeca, who, at 84, had passed on quietly into the night. Rest in peace, Pareng Tony.