COMMUNITY NEWS
30
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY February 16 - 28, 2019
Garcia disqualified for
destroying greens
SPECTATOR
By Al Mendoza
Part 2 of 2…continuation from Philippine Showbiz Today
GOLF took the spotlight
globally
recently—both
for
reasons weird and spectacular.
The weirdest was the
behavior of Sergio Garcia on the
golf course--bordering on the
abominable.
While Garcia is known for
his Spanish temper, sometimes
uncalled for, his outburst on
Saturday went from queer to
bizarre.
Not once but twice did he vent
his rage against the greens during
third round play of the just-ended
Saudi International tournament
in King Abdullah Economic City,
Saudi Arabia.
Literally almost, Garcia
destroyed
two
greens
in
frustration over a game that had
gone haywire.
Although he was able to finish
his round, scoring a 71 to be at
even par, he was 16 shots off co-
leaders Dustin Johnson of the US
and Li Haotong of China.
Then came the hammer on
Garcia’s head: He was disqualified
and barred from playing the last
round.
But I give credit to Garcia, the
former Masters champion.
When he realized the horror
of his misconduct, he apologized
immediately—and profusely at
that.
“In frustration, I damaged
a couple of greens, for which I
apologize for,” Garcia said. “And
I have informed my fellow players
it will never happen again.”
Garcia’s
misconduct
somehow stained the tournament
as the Saudi International is the
newest European Tour leg, which
was largely seen as a cosmetic
to Saudi Arabia’s human-rights
record following an international
condemnation on the recent
killing of Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi in Turkey, with some
of Saudi’s top-ranking officials
being linked allegedly to the
murder.
Johnson won the tournament
in style, if not spectacularly, using
his last two birdies on the final
two holes of the fourth and final
round to win by two strokes over
the eagle-energized Li, Johnson’s
co-leader with 18 holes left to
play.
Li’s four eagles in Round 3
was a record in the Open era of
the sport and Johnson needed
tons of courage to hold back the
surging Chinese on Sunday’s
dramatic finish.
“Any time you can win a
professional tournament, no
matter where it is in the world, it’s
a big win,” said Johnson, who had
five birdies for a final three-under-
par 67 to Li’s 69. “Haotong was
one ahead on the back nine, but
I knew I was playing well enough
to make up some strokes, and
I didn’t let it bother me. I just
played my game and kept on
trying to make birdies.”
His birdies on 17 and 18
had clinched it, coming after
Li succumbed to pressure with
three bogeys pulling him down
coming home.
But still, good enough that Li
finished second behind Johnson,
the No. 3 player in the world.
As for Garcia, who won the
Masters on April 9, 2017, he will
have a lot of repairing in mending
his broken heart, if not his
damaged reputation worldwide.
The least he could do in
restoring his stature is pay for the
repair of the damaged greens—
and next do a janitorial job in a
mosque in Saudi? For a week?
_______________________
_____Bickering in swimming
testing Ricky’s leadership
UNITY has always been
the trademark of Ricky Vargas’
leadership in the Philippine
Olympic Committee (POC).
Right after he became POC
president, Vargas extended the
hand of peace to Jose “Peping”
Cojuangco Jr.
It stunned almost everybody,
including deposed POC prexy
Cojuangco.
You may recall that
Cojuangco virtually used all his
powers to block Vargas’ bid for
the presidency.
But despite being disqualified
on crooked, if not invented,
election rules, Vargas eventually
prevailed—with big help from the
courts that threw out the window
Cojuangco’s ill-fated political
clout.
At first, Cojuangco rejected
Vargas’ bid to lure him to join
the new dispensation. But in the
end, Cojuangco relented and he
is now back into the good graces
of Vargas.
But Vargas’ unification efforts
did not stop there.
Today, he is deep into fixing
warring factions within several
sports associations, most notably
in swimming.
He has made an impassioned
plea for swim officials not only
seeing eye to eye with each other
but with different platforms and
agenda as well to patch up their
differences.
On one side is Lani Velasco,
the president of the Philippine
Swimming Inc., being opposed
by a breakaway group headed no
less by legendary swimmers in
another era, Eric Buhain and Ral
Rosario.
Eric and Ral had said they will
hold their own tryouts for slots to
the SEA Games set to start on
Nov. 30 in the Philippines.
Velasco’s PSI is recognized by
Vargas, who has called on Eric and
Ral and their allies to finally link
up with Velasco’s association.
“We all need to put our
misunderstandings
and
heartaches aside and come
together to get the best Filipino
swimmers in the SEA Games,”
said Vargas. “There is no need
for acrimony and divisiveness.
We can work this out. Lani has
announced she is willing to do
this. I call on other groups to
cooperate and work as one for
the country’s interest.”
Hey, Ricky, why not meet
up with Eric and Ral, with Lani
around? Now!
It’s like the Frenchman kissing
a lady’s hand upon introduction:
He needs to start somewhere.
Triathletes Macalalad, Manayon top Subic tilt
Edward Vince Jared Macalalad
and Karen Manayon’s multisport
training in Portugal paid off when
they emerged as the fastest finish-
ers in the My Daily Collagen Triath-
lon on February 24.
Macalalad, also of team Tri
Gear was crowned male 18-24
champion after completing the
1.5-kilometer swim — 40km bike
— 10km run standard distance
held at the Subic Bay Freeport
Zone race in two hours, 13 min-
utes, and six seconds.
Banjo Norte cruised into the
chute 22 seconds later to finish
first in the Male 25-29 age group,
followed by Julius Constantino at
2:17:08.
In the women’s competition
Manayon made her Cebu City Rider
Omega Tri Team proud by posting
2:38:59 to emerge as champion
in the Female 18-24 category. Age
proved to be no barrier as Manay-
on was joined in the top three fe-
male finishers by Ines Santiago
(2:41:22) of the 35-39 age group
and Petro Kuiper (2:48:33) of the
50-54 age group.
Other Standard Distance age-
group champions of the My Daily
Collagen Triathlon supported by
Smart, Saucony, Vittoria, Rudy
Project, ACEA Subic Bay, Court
Meridian Hotel & Suites, and the
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority,
were Cianyl Gonzales (25-29), Lyl-
lian Grace Banzon and Lorin-Pe-
dro Balandreau (30-34), Ronald
Molit (35-39), Nylah Bautista and
Jeff Valdez (40-44), Bic Ferreria
and Romeo Marquez (45-49), Pe-
ter Gonzalez (50-54), Rune Stroem
(55-59), and Josef Guetta (60-
above).
“The large turnout of seasoned
triathletes from the different parts
of the country made a major dif-
ference. Previously we expected
mostly beginners or newcomers
among triathletes to join in. We
are more than happy with the re-
ception of this race,” said My Daily
Collagen chief sales officer Oliver
Salas.
Champions in the Sprint dis-
tance (750-meter swim — 18km
bike — 5km run) contests were
Marielle Estreba and Josh Angelo
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
Averion (15-19), Austine Morfe
(20-29), Princess Que and Mel-
vin Benzon (30-39), Ana Cristina
Abanico and Ranvel Eriko Rufino
(40-49), Margaret Koa Cheng (Fe-
male 50-above), and Ruben Ercilla
(Male 50-59).
Cebu City Rider Omega Tri
Team was declared the fastest tri-
athlon team in Sunday’s standard
distance race followed by Team
Sante Barley and Herbalife Team.
The relay category champions
were Team Salada (Family), Cebu
City Rider Omega Tri Team (Mixed),
Prito Fam (All-Female), and Team
Balon Dagupan (All-Male).