Never again, says Salvador of error which costs him P200,000

MANILA, Philippines - Two days after committing the biggest, costliest error of his life, Elmer Salvador is ready to pick up the pieces again, vowing to be more prudent and astute, particularly when faced with trivial golf matters.

He was just one tap-in birdie away from pocketing the top P200,000 purse in the ICTSI Del Monte Championship at the Del Monte Golf Club in Bukidnon last Friday.

But in a twist of fate, the bounty instead went into the hands of fellow Davaoeño Cassius Casas.

“That will never happen again,” said Salvador in Filipino, his voice tinged with sadness and disgust over his final hole boo-boo in the P1 million event.

“Sobrang malas talaga (I was so unlucky),” said Salvador.

Actually, it wasn’t a case of bad or hard luck but a simple case of negligence. The least that he could do was to lift and mark his ball and let his flightmates do their thing and putt out.

After all, the title was already in the bag, so to speak, and it is but fitting that he would be the last one to hole out.

But he instead agreed not to mark his ball upon the proddings of Juvic Pagunsan and Richard Sinfuego and let his rivals first pitch from around the 18th green.

“Di bale, babawi na lang ako sa susunod (Never mind, I will strike back),” said Salvador, who had shed the tag of a choker with a string of victories the last few years, including the RP Open last December and the ICTSI Mt. Malarayat leg early this year.