Cavaliers day

Nobody looked sleepy early yesterday morning at the Mactan Island Golf Club as we prepared to tee off for the golf event of the Cavaliers Day organized by the Central Command led by Lt. Gen. Isagani Cachuela.

There was that excited look in many faces most especially for those who were taking to the fairways for the first or the second time like Lt. Kenneth Rosalejos of the Navy and my mistah Lt. Cdr. Edgar Sumergido, another Navyman.

Cdr. John Garaña, the tournament chairman, had to adjust the pairings due to some no shows but the event teed off at 7 a.m. shotgun format.

Since most of us had to leave the golf club shortly before noon to make it to the boodle fight at the Central Command, I had to ask Cdr. Garaña for the results of the tournament.

For the special awards, the most accurate drive went to Donn Anthony Miraflor of class ’91 while Sir Nestor Bontol of class ’77 and one of the prime movers of the Cebu Squad was nearest the pin on the island green. The longest putt on the 18th was made by Jude Soria.

Cdr. Garaña, who is back after a long lay off when he broke his foot in a football match, had the longest drive on hole number 1.

The lowest gross was made by Brite Liwanag with 69 strokes on nines of 33 and 36 while Beloy Gador made the lowest net with 69 strokes.

The class A title went to PNP’s Omar Garbo with a net score of 70 while Garaña topped class B with a net 70 and Miraflor was the class C winner with a 71.

The class D plum went to the most senior Cavalier present in the tournament, Retired Col. Chappy Guevarra, the recipient of the athletic saber of class ’54.

There were games for football and basketball at Centcom early afternoon yesterday followed by badminton, but this deadline beater had to work, so I had to miss that part of the whole day activity.

We did miss our Squad Leader, Sr. Supt. Augusto Morales Marquez, Jr. more popularly known as MarQ, who according to my sources was practicing hard for the golf event, which could have also been his first time on the fairways. I still don’t have official word why he was absent, but many of the players were looking forward to being in the same flight as our legendary SL.

From work, I’ll head to the fellowship and catch up with the president of the Cebu Squad, Retired Col. Clarence Martinez, who may be retired but is still very much young and active, our Asst. Squad Leader (ASL) Lt. Col. Ezra James Enriquez and my mistah Maj. Mike Santos.

Many think that the men and women who have gone to the PMA are a bunch of people who walk stiffly and wear shiny shoes, they are more than that. They are also a group, who find time for sports not only to keep fit and look good in uniform but also for fun.

We’re now looking forward to the next time.

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MILESTONES: Belated happy birthday greetings to Dyna Jane Montebon, who turned a year older yesterday.

Birthday greetings go to Anna Conejero, Mitch Lorenzana and Marie Chalimar Alfar-Evardone, who are celebrating today.

Advance greetings to The Freeman’s correspondent in Ormoc, Obet Dejon, Cebu City Sports Center manager Ricky Ballesteros, Cecilia Oloroso-Yongco, and to my good friend Ycel Diaz, who are celebrating tomorrow.

More power to all of you!