Golf anyone?

I could have been a golfer instead of a marathoner since we lived just across the Marapara Golf and Country Club in Bacolod City. I could have also been influenced by my schoolmates at La Salle College (now University of St. La Salle), that included former amateur golf champion Francis Gaston, JR Tanpico and Steve Cuenca. Bacolod is also home to the legendary Golem Silverio and Juvic Pagunsan. However, I find golf too slow for a free-wheeling spirit like me. My second chance to turn to golf came in the the mid-Nineties when Mondragon Industries (disributor of Nike) top honcho Anton Gonzalez asked me if I wanted to shift to golf to promote the Nike line. At that time, I was organizing the Nike Pharmaton 10K Classic circuit in the cities of Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, Cebu, Cagayan De Oro and  Baguio that lasted for  for over 10 years.  Again, my answer was “Thanks but no thanks”.  Although I lost a lot of speed as I aged, I gained a lot of endurance after running for over 35 years.  Nike then was promoting the Tiger Woods line. 

Pinoy pride

As I wrote  in a previous column, the Philippines was a bit dissappointed when our bet Rabiya Mateo failed to land in the top ten of this year’s Miss Universe contest in Florida. However, Fil-am Jordan Clarkson made us proud when he bagged the NBA Sixth Man Award. This was followed by Nonito Donarie’s winning the WBC Bantamweight title by stopping previously unbeaten Nordine Oubaali (17-0, 26 KOs) in the fourth round at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson City, near Los Angeles.  The underdog Donaire knocked down Oubaali twice in the third round then finished the French-Moroccan in the fourth as he was left helplessly sprawled on the canvas, his back resting on the lower ropes.  At 38, “The Filipino Flash” proved that “Di pa siya laos ug naa pay ibuga”.

Yuka Saso

The bigggest sports story this month is no doubt the triumph of Fil-Japanese Yuka Saso in the U.S Women’s Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco the other Monday.  Saso recovered from a disastrous start to beat Japanese Nasa Hataoka with a birdie in the third playoff hole, to emerge as the youngest US Open women's champion at 19 years, 11 months and 17 days.  Saso, a double gold medalist in the 2018 Asian Games, won a staggering $ 1 million (Php 47.7 million) and an LPGA Tour card.  While I’m an Elvis impersonator, Saso tried to ape PGA star Rory McIlroy’s swing. McIlroy  said he was flattered by it and sent Saso an Instagram message before the final round to go for it.

Margielyn Didal

Then as an icing in the cake, our very own Margielyn Didal officially book a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics in July to join nine other Pinoy athletes who will try to snare our first gold medal.  Only top 16 of the world ranking of the Women’s Street Skateboarding are qualified  for the Games.  But Didal who ranked 17th,  got the slot as three podium  finishers in the recent Skateboarding Worlds in Rome, were already in the top 16.  So what more  can we say? “Mabuhay ang Pinoy”!

Carlsen beats So

World’s number one Magnus Carlsen racked two pressure wins to beat American Wesley So in Armageddon tie-break to rule the FTX Crypto Online Chess Cup. The 30-year old Norwegian has to come back from a one game deficit to win the final two games for his second straight Tour title. Carlsen pocketed the $60,000 top prize.  “Sayang”  for Wesley who’s sponsoring the GM Wesley So Cup Online Tournament in the Philippines.

Did you know?

MIKE TYSON  knocked out challenger Michael Spinks in Atlantic City in 1988 with just eight punches, his income from the fight worked out at $2.5 million per punch.  In 1997, he earned $ 75 million and became the highest -paid athlete in the entire history  of sport.  If he didn’t bit Evander Holyfield’s ear, he would surely have earned even more the following year.

Jack Johnson

The  world's fist black heavyweight  boxing champion was refused permission to board an ocean liner sailing from Britain to New York because of his color (racial discrimination).  The Titanic sailed wthout him.