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About
three years ago in the annual Fil-Am Golf Invitational
(an all amateur tournament), a foreign participant made
a hole-in-one at the Baguio Country Club. After
detailing the routine facts and listing the witnesses,
the player was extremely happy because he won a P250,000
(roughly $5,400 today) Rolex watch.
When the
rest of the field found out its worth, some players
familiar with the United States Golf Association (USGA)
rules went to the rules committee chairman and asked if
he was aware that if the foreigner accepts the prize, he
will automatically forfeit his amateur status.
The
major areas of concern regarding amateur status are easy
to understand. They deal with what, perhaps, most of us
golfers perceive as normal behavior and actions of golf
professionals but are actually not allowed to amateur
players. So on what grounds does a player lose his
amateur status?
One, he
can’t apply for or accept a professional’s position;
two, playing for prize money; three, receiving payment
or compensation for golf instruction; four, being
compensated for making personal appearances because of
golf skill or reputation; and five, allowing name or
likeness to be used to sell a product or service or
receiving payment for broadcasting or writing based on
golf skill or reputation. Any of these actions could be
grounds for a loss of amateur status.
However,
these rules are not well-publicized, not clear-cut and
often misunderstood by amateurs. In the incident cited
above, the foreigner’s violation has to do with the
acceptance of a prize with a retail value exceeding
$500—the measure clearly stated in the USGA rules.
If one
does accept a prize in excess of that amount and then
wishes to continue to have his amateur status
reinstated, he must apply to the National Golf
Association of the Philippines (NGAP) and USGA and serve
a waiting period which will range from one to two years.
The
amateurs must keep in mind that they can’t ever receive
money too as a prize, regardless of amount. It includes
any event in which golf skill is again a factor and
prizes such as vacation packages, golf equipment, cars
or any type of vehicle are up for grab.
Because
many member and guest, invitational, pro-am or charity
tournaments offer attractive holes-in-one prizes,
amateurs unknowingly forfeit their status or may face a
difficult decision after becoming an ace maker.
Most
golfers admit that making hole-in-one is really more on
luck than skill but the violation sticks no matter how
little skill or little luck was involved.
Maintaining the distinction between playing for prize
money and friendly betting is important to the integrity
of an amateur golf per se. The NGAP and USGA urge all
to avoid all types of organized gambling so that someone
is not put in a discomforting position of having his
amateur status questioned.
Lucho Invitational
TEAMS
from Hawaii and Las Vegas have confirmed their
participation in the coming Lucho Singh Invitational
Golf Tournament, which tees off July 8 at the scenic Apo
Golf and Country Club.
The
Vegas team headed by Rolando Ladislao, realtor/owner of
the American Realty & Investment Inc., and another squad
from Hawaii spearheaded by Consul General Ariel Abadilla
are coming over to play in the fund-raising tournament
to help cancer patients in
Davao City
.
Lucho
Singh, a cancer survivor himself and organizer of the
18-hole event, has chosen the Amuma Cancer Support Group
Foundation Inc., the beneficiary of the noble project.
Singh
also announced that Carmerlita Singh Fuller and Danny
Fuller from Texas, Pilar Roman of Lynnwood, and lawyer
Alfonso Reyno of the Manila Jockey Club have also
pledged support to the tournament supported by the
city’s top sportsman—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
“More
and more people have thrown their support to this
tournament. Hopefully we can get local support from
Davao,” Singh said.
RP vs US’s best
NATIONAL
team members Michael Bibat and Jay Bayron will be ranged
against the United States’ top amateurs in the 92nd
Southwestern Men’s Invitational that starts today at the
Desert Mountain Golf Club’s Outlaw course in Carefree,
Arizona.
With
their impressive credentials, Bibat, the 22-year-old who
was part of the gold medal-wining team in the Southeast
Asian Games in Manila two years ago, and Bayron, 28,
reigning RP Amateur Open and Malaysian Open champion,
were given invites to the tournament that traces its
roots in 1915.
The
four-day event, part of the RP team’s US trip for this
month, will feature some of the best US amateurs
including defending titlist Ben Fox, Arizona Mid-Am and
Scratch player winner Jeremy de Falco, two-time New
Mexico Match Play champ Brandon Putnam and 2006
Washington State Amateur victor Zach Bixler.
Also
competing are National Association of Intercollegiate
Athletics No. 1 player Daniel Mitchell, 2006 American
Junior Golf Association (AJGA) First Team All American
members Richard Lee and Drew Kittleson and former AJGA
Player of the Year US Junior Amateur and Player of the
Year Philip Francis.
“The
Southwestern tourney will provide a good international
exposure to Bibat and Bayron. We told them to elevate
their games a notch higher because the field is tough,”
said head coach Bong Lopez, who is in the US with
assistant coaches Nestor Mendoza and Chris Guerrero.
Meanwhile, International Amateur Golf Championship
winner Anthony Fernando and teammates Miko Alejandro and
Dante Becierra are on their way to Birmingham, Alabama,
to join the seventh annual Greystone Invitational set at
the Greystone Golf and Country Club from June 15 to 17.
Alejandro, runner-up to Fernando last week, tees off
early along with Becierra, Keith Hyatt of Cincinnati and
Kenny Wilson of Murfeesboro. Fernando will be in the
first flight with Jeremy White of Eufala, Dale Porter of
Decatur and Ed Kinzer of Trussville. |
