La Salle-Ateneo Golf

CEBU - November will be a busy month for the Cebu golf community with at least three major events set.

Since a couple of months ago, I was told by James Tan, one of the organizers of the Charity Golf Tournament that they plan to hold the tournament in November and not during its usual schedule of December.

The tournament should be set late next month according to my friends in the committee. This will be at the Cebu Country Club.

Last week, I got a call from General (Retired) Rodante Joya, now the general manager of the Mactan Island Golf Club. He told me that their annual signature event, the Island Tee, will be held on November 13 to 16.

This year, Gen. Joya said that this will be a strictly member-guest tournament unlike in the past when they allowed members to pair off with other club members.

After a few years of absence, I took part in the Island Tee again last year and despite having to drive quite far from where I live, it was a wonderful experience.

This is the same reason that when Gen. Joya asked me if I could join them again this year, I readily said yes sir!

Yesterday afternoon, I found out that I’ll have a chance to practice for the Island Tee as the 7th La Salle-Ateneo Golf Classic in Cebu will be held on November 12 and 13.

Since as always, I’ll be playing only one round, I’ll try to do what I can for La Salle on that day. It is not really scoring points for the team, but probably more like ruining the game of the Ateneans on my flight by showing them the wrong way to play the game.

We had a small gathering at Casino Español yesterday to talk about the event and while La Salle skipper Nino Bascon and I came, as expected in green shirts, the biggest surprise was Atty. Jovi Neri, one of the stalwarts of the Ateneo golf team, who came to the meeting in a green shirt.

The Ateneans have nothing to worry though as Jovi is not switching sides. In fact he came to the meeting to tell the La Salle team led by our alumni chapter president Javy Quintos and sports committee chairman John Pages that Ateneo would win it this year.

All I could say is, maybe.

The competition is open to all those who went to a La Salle or a Jesuit school for at least a school year. This actually gives Ateneo the edge due to the presence of Sacred Heart School-Jesuit in Cebu.

Well there’s De La Salle Andres Soriano Memorial College, our school in Toledo City, but we don’t really have such a big delegation to the annual event although we have stand outs like Dr. Tony San Juan, Dr. Rey Dira, Cholo Verches, and Balamban Councilor Dave Karamihan to count on.

The event is over a month away and that means it’s time to head back to the range to the course to hone our game.

This is exactly what our president Javy Quintos is going to do most specially after he learned that he’d be playing a match against Tony Pineda, his counterpart in the Ateneo Alumni Association.

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Here’s something I’d like to share with our readers. This came from my “breast friend” Manang Mary Anne “Me-anne” Alcordo-Solomon, a breast cancer survivor and now crusader.

October is breast cancer awareness month. Avail of discounts in all leading Cebu City hospitals for mammograms.

I know I have a lot more male than female readers, but we can all help in this crusade for our loved ones.

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MILESTONES: I’d like to wish Cattski Espina a very happy birthday. She’s turning a year older today.

Congratulations to my best friend Christopher Rey M. Tio and his wife Julie on the opening of the second Iora outlet last weekend at the second floor of Ayala Center Cebu.