Tears of the Tiger

Tiger Woods unleashed a lot of emotion when he won his third British Open title, his 11th Major, early Monday (RP time). He's just as human as we are after all.

Woods, whose father Earl recently died after losing his battle against the Big C, would have wanted his dad to be there to hug when he holed his final putt as he had done so many times in the past.

It would have been much different if Earl was there, but life and everything else on earth is not permanent.

Including my streak of wrong picks of winners for sporting events or matches. Exactly a week ago, I wrote about how Tiger would be a player to watch considering that he is one athlete who gets fired up by criticism.

Nick Faldo, who did not say very kind words about Tiger inside the TV booth in previous events, was paired with the champ, which was expected by some writers to fire up Woods. It surely did.

At least I can now face my compadre Michael Go squarely and tell him, I can pick the right winner sometimes. Well, that did not really stop him from telling me over coffee after lunch yesterday that bettors might as well put their money on the opponent.

Well, I also picked Miami over Dallas in the NBA, but that was more of an emotional decision rather than one based on statistics. Which reminds me that my good friend Rommel Asuncion of IPI still owes me one case of San Mig Light. Or have our others friends collected for me? Hehehe...

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During the British Open, there were some people who commented about how the course looked with only a few patches that looked like a real golf course on TV.

Hoylake at Liverpool somehow changed how many people look at golf. Of course to the ones who understand the game, they looked at it from a different point of view.

It was my son who first asked me how come the golf course looked bad? Then I got the same observation from a few more friends.

Well, I'm sure the course would not have been picked to host such a grand tournament if it were not up to par.

The course really did not look much like one that was to host the best players in the world, but that did not stop them from showing us their abilities.

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I would like to thank a couple of students from the University of the Philippines Cebu College, who sent e-mail in relation to a folio that one of their classmates did for their class.

It is always heartwarming to receive kind words from people whom you haven't even met, so thank you again and I wish you all the best in all your endeavors.

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MILESTONES: Belated happy birthday to Lt. Col. Ezra James P. Enriquez of the Philippine Army, a fellow Deltan, who celebrated his birthday yesterday.

Belated greetings also go to my classmate Nona Bacatan-Suerte, who also turned a year older yesterday.

More power to both of you!

I wish a safe trip to Joan Villahermosa, who is leaving for California today after attending the silver jubilee reunion of our elementary class the other weekend. We'll miss your company, but then it also means we're looking forward to your next visit.