THE month of November is always associated with Baguio’s Fil-Am Invitational Golf, now perennially backstopped by San Miguel Corp.
And, at about this time, both the Baguio Country Club (BCC) and Camp John Hay (CJH) have just about wrapped up their preparations for the tournament extending two weeks by tradition.
I can almost see BCC General Manager Anthony de Leon heaving a huge sigh of relief after having seen the splendid preparations of his course. And do I see BCC Chairman Rico Agcaoili, watching from a distance, enormously satisfied himself by the performance of ADL’s staff, led by Andrew Pinero and Roanne Galicia?
You bet.
Every male amateur around the country is raring to be in the thick of action, when every round is fought tooth-and-nail in both divisions of seniors play and the men’s regular from November 23 to December 10.
While it is not a money tournament, the competition is still as keen and as tremendously fought as joy and pride from every victory translate preciously like gold.
In golf, it is not the money really that counts but the self-fulfillment brought on by triumph.
Even a P20 bill landing in your pocket at the end of a grueling five-hour grind at any course is reason enough to celebrate.
Amid the euphoria of sinking a 10-footer on the final hole that could mean “only” a victory worth P20—still, it has no equal in bliss.
The sight of seeing your ball disappear into the cup, what more if it is a curling putt, becomes so heavenly it dwarfs everything from lunacy to ecstasy.
Golf is the only game that dissolves frustration in an instant: You score a double-par in one hole but you birdie the next, the past is just past. The present is the star. The future looks bright.
That is the Fil-Am Invitational, the world’s biggest amateur golf event the last 66 years.
Always, you see such wondrous people in multitude giving unadulterated premium to this tournament year in and year out. So that the Fil-Am Golf has become part and parcel of their calendar, for as long as they can swing that club.
In short, golfers joining the Fil-Am Invitational treat the ritual a magical moment time and time again.
This is not known to many, but Baguio seems to be the only mountain in the world that boasts of having two golf courses with such regal bearings that just to be in anyone of them—merely relaxing in their environs or having a round—is already almost a trip to paradise.
With the city’s crisp air and flora and fauna now almost a-bloom at this time of the year—both BCC and CJH boast of that—every nook and cranny of this country’s summer capital becomes a feast to the eyes.
No wonder it is not uncommon to see Fil-Am Golf participants already pleading, imploring even, to the tournament hosts to please invite them again in the next edition.
Always, the Fil-Am Invitational attracts like no other.