Next year's edition of the La Salle-Ateneo Golf Classic Cebu is expected to even be bigger since the tournament in Manila has already ceased.
In fact, for the tournament last Monday and Tuesday at Cebu Country Club, several players of La Salle came all the way from Manila to take part in the tournament.
Despite the reinforcements though, Ateneo still managed to win the overall title and took home the overall championship trophy for good for the second time.
They first took home the trophy after three straight victories during the first to third editions of the tournament. Ateneo was about to once again bring home the trophy, but luckily La Salle won the overall title during the 6th edition.
Then from the 7th to the 9th, the dry spell returned and Ateneo once again took home the huge trophy the other night.
We hope that the fortunes will change starting next year.
While the La Salle team seems to take losing very well and the Ateneans are also gracious winners, the fact that in Cebu the alumni of both schools are close friends, has made the tournament here very friendly, which was what I wrote in yesterday's column.
This friendliness seems to be the reason why the tournament has continued in Cebu, because after the last putt is sunk, we party together without regard for what color you wore during the tournament.
* * *
With the Cebu City Sports Center track oval due for repair soon, there is definitely a need for a similar arena in Cebu City.
Even after the repair of the track oval, the CCSC is expected to be very congested with joggers, walkers, and serious athlete training for various competitions.
Now, it is just impossible for the serious athletes to practice at the track oval with many people refusing to follow the house rules on the use of the inner lanes.
Having another arena will decongest the CCSC and allow the serious athletes to train in a safe venue. This can also serve as a place to develop the younger generation of athletes under the watchful eyes of qualified coaches and not just anybody assigned as such.
This seems like dreaming, but I am optimistic that another sporting venue would be built soon.
I was informed that one of the locators at the South Road Properties (SRP) has already identified an open space that can be developed for a sports field.
I hope that this plan will move forward and we will have another venue for training and holding events in the near future.
* * *
MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to Lt. Gen. Ralph Villanueva, commander of the Central Command, who turned a year older the other day.
Today's greetings go to Cdr. Donn Anthony Miraflor of the Navy, artist Dennis 'Sio' Montera and our former editor-in-chief Noel Pangilinan.
Advance greetings to those celebrating tomorrow like LTO's Alita Pulga, Linette Ramos, Sheryl Davide-Ureta, and Evert Lato.
More power to all of you!