TWO things last weekend.
The Baguio Country Club had just concluded its second Member-Guest Tournament—in smashing success, I tell you.
More than a hundred participants enjoyed the city’s famed cool breeze for nearly a week; most of them came with their families.
A tournament for the Manila-based Dad.
A much-anticipated vacation for the missus and kids.
What a perfect combination.
And it was not just a simple tournament for the Club member and his partner, mind you. Almost everybody went home with handsome prizes tucked under their belts.
A LED, slim television was just a minor prize, can you believe that?
Lucrative were the prizes given away upon merely signing up for the tournament, not to mention many more prizes that are worth keeping for both functionality and the fond memories they bring forth.
Peter Rey Bautista, the former mayor of Baguio City, won an expensive Oris wristwatch during the raffle. Several more Tissot watches—costing more than P50k like the Oris—were also given away.
So elated were tournament officials Jose Roman Ozaeta and Louie Sison that this early, they are thinking of putting up next year more perks and prizes for the San Miguel Corp.-sponsored event.
“Maybe, a Rolex will be raffled off next year?” said a joyful participant.
“Why not?” said Louie, the tournament chairman with Joe (BCC’s head of sports and recreation committee) as organizing committee chief. “We are here to always make everybody happy.”
With Baguio CC General Manager Anthony de Leon extending his all-out support, the tournament that started last year had ended on a high note. A big credit goes to the GM’s staff led by Andrew Pinero and tournament director Roanne Galicia, supported by her main ally Glai del Rosario and staffers May, Melody, Abs and Harvee.
I could almost hear GM De Leon say: “My people are trained to run the annual Fil-Am Golf Invitational. Modesty aside, this Member-Guest event is but chicken feed to them.”
Even Joe and Louie were oozing with praise on how well-run the tournament was. Not even a whimper, a whine, was heard from a participant.
Roanne and May were amply rewarded for a job well-done when each won a TV set as a raffle prize.
I have yet to see a golf tournament that rewards the event’s staffers with high-end raffles to win.
Back in Manila from Baguio the next day, I watched Game 4 of the SMB-Rain or Shine semifinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Just when almost everybody thought the Beermen would win and force a winner-take-all Game 5 for a Finals ticket to the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup, the opposite happened.
The Painters routed SMB, 124-99, for a 3-1 clincher, knocking the Beermen out and deflecting their Grand Slam bid following their All-Filipino crown conquest.
The Beermen were hounded almost eternally by bad shooting, poor execution of shots and turnovers in a complete reversal of form from their near-flawless Game 3 victory to cut the Painters’ series lead to 2-1.
Although Arizona Reid, the returning SMB import, scored a game-high 25 points, his efforts were in vain amid RoS’s unrelenting blasts.
Compounding SMB’s woes was the woeful plays of June Mar Fajardo (12 points) and Arwind Santos (6) and faulty officiating that sent Marcio Lassiter to the showers early on 6 fouls.
Oh, well, as the saying goes, you can’t win them all. And winning a Grand Slam is as elusive as nabbing a lotto jackpot.
THAT’S IT. Here are the winners in the Baguio Country Club Member-Club Tournament last weekend: OVERALL CHAMPIONS Goody Ignacio-Evan Obrera; DIVISION I CHAMPION Pol Mayos-Kwong Fai, runnerup Jay Co-Arnold Gunnacao, third place Earl Farrell-Manny Obrera; DIVISION II CHAMPIONS Chen Wen Lo-Wilbert Tan, runnerup Joey Ancheta-Clifford Oliva, third place Anthony Co-Gene Dela; DIVISION III CHAMPIONS Ramon Aldana-Manny Solis, runnerup Itong Tan-Edwin Ganga, third place Rolando Esteban-Ariel Monteiro; DIVISION IV CHAMPIONS Jaime Chua-Leo Go, runnerup Letty Turner-Sammy Sab-it, third place Ric Young-Yancy Uy.