Pinoy golfer wins acclaim in Spain

There are over 700 trophies in Mike Preysler’s collection, a testament to his achievements in softball, handball, football, sailing, pelota, squash, clay-pigeon shooting, bowling and the sport that is closest to his heart — golf.

Whatever sport he chose to engage in, Preysler excelled. A born athlete, he continues to dominate the amateur senior golf circuit in Spain where he has lived for nearly 30 years.

Preysler, 56, was a member of the Philippine national golf team that won five straight Southeast Asian championships from 1969 to 1973.

Before plunging into golf, Preysler was a sailing standout as the Philippine junior champion from 1957 to 1960 and the open titlist from 1963 to 1968. He won the Far East Yacht Racing Federation title and was named Yachtsman of the Year by the Philippine Sportswriters Association in 1966.

But when he was selected to represent the Philippines in sailing at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and couldn’t go because the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) had no funds to ship his boat, Preysler decided to try his luck in another sport. Sailing’s loss turned out to be golf’s gain.

"I was really annoyed," said Preysler. "I gave up sailing and took up golf." He had trained seven months for the Olympics after winning a Finn Olympic-class competition (one-man yacht) which included sailors from southern Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

From elementary to undergraduate at La Salle Taft, Preysler was an outstanding campus athlete. He was the school handball champion from 1966 to 1970, played shortstop for the La Salle team that won the NCAA junior softball titles in 1967 and 1968, was the goalkeeper for the La Salle football team in 1968 and led La Salle to several golf team crowns from 1965 to 1973.

Preysler’s love for sports was influenced by his late father Fausto and mother Consuelo. It was his father who taught him how to play golf — when he was only 10.

"His father, who had given up golf about 10 years earlier, started giving him 15 to 20-minute lessons after work, swinging the club without a ball, teaching him how to hold the club, the correct posture and swing," wrote the editors of Andalucia Golf Magazine (Oct. 2006). "He bought him plastic balls to hit in the garden. Miguel cut the grass around the hole and when the plastic ball reached the green, he changed it for a hard golf ball and putted. He ‘built’ a par-4 around a tee with a dog-leg and set his own course records in the family garden."

In 1977, Preysler was assigned by the Filipino company he worked for as general manager of Sotogrande, a resort with a magnificent golf course in Spain.

Preysler lived in Sotogrande until 1983, moved to the US and returned to Sotogrande to join a real estate company two years later. He still lives in Sotogrande with wife Amparo Veloso whose brothers Rico, Joey and Ben were once Philippine national football stars.

Amparo is also a golfer and sometimes even caddies for Preysler in major tournaments. They are an inseparable pair in the Spanish amateur golf tour.

Preysler, whose first cousin Isabel was formerly married to singer Julio Iglesias (she is the mother of Enrique) and is now former Minister of the Economy Miguel Boyer’s wife, said he never regretted staying amateur although he considered turning pro at least twice in his career.

"When he was a member of the Philippine national team, he was encouraged on two occasions to turn pro in the US, receiving offers to pay his costs to start the American adventure," said Andalucia Golf. "Miguel decided, however, that he wanted to complete his economics and business studies and after doing that, he entered the workplace and got married. Professional golf was definitely discounted as an option."

To prove he hasn’t lost his touch, Preysler recently strung up successive victories over eight weeks, winning the Royal Spanish Golf Federation’s national seniors event, the Aesgolf (Association of Spanish Senior Golf) national tournament, the Andalucian International, the European Seniors Championships in Portugal and the European Teams Championships where he also topped the individual category by nine strokes.

Preysler stays in competitive form by playing golf every weekend, starting Friday afternoon. During the week, he picks up a club every day and swings in front of a mirror.

"This helps me a lot," he said. "I start watching TV and pick up a club. I look at the mirror feeling the swing, correcting myself. My best teacher is the mirror, without a doubt, where I see all the faults."

A highlight of his career was receiving the gold medal of merit from the Andalucian Golf Federation, the highest distinction awarded by the organization, in December 2005.

Preysler, a dual Filipino-Spanish citizen, often visits Manila where his brother Fausto Jr., and mother live. His college buddies remember him as a consummate gentleman and sportsman. He was an A-student, a friend with a ready helping hand and a handsome ladies’ man with the Kirk Douglas cleft chin.