“There is no excuse my friend, you’re breaking my heart again” goes that popular song of the nineties by the boyband Michael learns to rock, same favorite song that my kumpadre Neil Bravo would belt out, drowning our expletives every time we hit those bad shots at the fairways.
That’s golf you need to move on after each shot, leave the past behind and let the succeeding good shots cover the bad ones just like covering the divots with scoop of sand.
What about if good shots won’t happen in the remaining holes? Well, that’s the wonder of golf. There’ always the next round.
It was a four day filled with golf, fun, music, laughter, food and drinks in Cagayan de Oro City. The most awaited event of the year that can happen during a PAL Interclub golf tournament in different parts of the country. It’s an honor to be invited once again to have a fellowship with our comrades in Sports writing both in broadsheets and the broadcast media.
This writer had a brief ride with glory by leading the event on the first day but as they say it ain’t over till the last putt of the tournament sinks in the cup. I hit my drives perfectly but as they say in golf “it’s not the drive but the arrive”. Hehehe
My second day was a revelation, a learning experience. I had a grand time riding the cart with my idol sportswriter par excellence Al Mendoza and was able to know more about the man and learn some additional wisdom for the sport we love to hate. “Golf is a mental game pare. It can extract and reveal the good side and the other side of a person’s character. It’s up to you which side you want to reveal; depending on your desires, what you want to gain, your goal” says my partner. “Cheers” Pareng Al.
It would have been perfect if I won the event, the icing on the cake but I already received the greatest honor in golf among golfers during the welcome dinner. As tournament director Jake Ayson introduced one by one the participants for the tournament during dinner time, he paused for a while before he mentioned my name.
He started by saying,” The next golfer is the most honest golfer in this room”. A great distinction for me as a golfer.
He continued by saying “during the last tournament in Cebu which he should have won. He had played good, had a great score but he did not take advantage of that situation. Instead he honored the time tested tradition among the fraternity of sportswriters by agreeing to have his handicap lowered to zero. A tradition among the fraternity of sportswriters as baptism of fire. He embraced the tradition when others of the same situation like him refused. It’s a test of his character” says the ageless Manong Jake. .
That’s the beauty of golf which us golfers won’t be able to unravel its mystique. “It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” says Winston Churchill. The temptation to win at all cost is always there. It tests our character. Which one to reveal and which one to choose will ultimately reveal our personality.
You play well today; you can’t wait to play again with the thoughts that you have finally solve the riddle but usually disaster happens the next time you play. It sends us crashing back to earth to lower our ego. You play bad? You can’t wait to play again with the conviction that you now knew the reason for the bad game and have discovered the right antidote. And usually it will give you hope and the cycle continues.
For me, I can’t wait for the next edition of the annual gathering of my brothers and sisters in sport writing. See you all in the next PAL Interclub. Foooooooore.
