Youth power

Davao City , Philippines  – Many teams in the Philippine Airlines (PAL) Interclub are now fielding junior golfers and the products of the junior golf programs of the different clubs.

Alta Vista Golf and Country Club has 13-year-old Gio Gandiongco, who despite being the youngest member of the team, is the players seen to lead AVGCC in scoring.

Edsel Tan, who is now a golf scholar at Ateneo is joining the team tomorrow for the last two rounds of the event.

Cebu Country Club is a team that showcases the success of its jungolf program in the PAL Interclub.

Bayani Garcia saw action yesterday at Apo. He is joined by not so long ago jungolf standouts Mark Dy, Marko Sarmiento and Kiyofumi Takahashi. In the final two days of action, Charles ‘Chuckie’ Hong of the La Salle golf team is also flying in to play for CCC.

A senior member of the team, Carl Almario, was also once a jungolf standout.

There are many other young men playing for the different teams of the event and each year their number is increasing.

I spent time with Joseph ‘Opep’ Gandiongco, Gio’s dad, while we watched the action from the gallery yesterday and he shared with me a wealth of experience when it comes to raising junior golf champions.

Last Saturday, Opep along with other parents from the Visayas and Mindanao organized the Junior Golf Southern Association at the Cebu Country Club. With this group, the junior golfers in the southern part of the country can look forward not only to more tournaments, but also more events that can help develop their skills.

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I see many old familiar faces here in Davao. Faces of family, friends, and acquaintances that I have met the past decade and a half that I have been taking the trip to cover the PAL Interclub.

I was hoping that next year I’d see them in Cebu, but there was only one club willing to host the two tournaments, which means it would be impossible to finish within four days for each of them.

I’m sure I’ll see most of them in Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon, which will be hosting the event next year and in the many more years to come.

Coming to the PAL Interclub is like an annual pilgrimage for many players. (THE FREEMAN)