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Thursday, April 22, 2004
Chiongbian: To the deep blue sea and back
By Edgar R. Chiongbian
Tee time
OUR prodigal golfer is back! Without much fun fare and without a fattened cow, his family of friends welcomed him with outstretched arms and tears of happiness because, “once he was lost and now he is found”.
On one April Fools Day in 2004, Ben Ebrada left Cebu to pursue a dream and in exactly 14 days the dream came to an end. Ben’s dream to fight the high seas and sail alone on a 32-foot catamaran to New Zealand came to a moment of truth when both rudders of his boat broke in an intense struggle with strong currents.
He was then in the Pacific Ocean from the east coast of Davao going towards the Islands of Indonesia when this happened. The boat lost all directional capabilities and was simply spinning out of control. It was pitch dark, in the middle of the night and in the middle of the ocean. The worst scenario has fallen upon Ben and he had only one option left and that is to pray to the Almighty for divine intervention.
So he went inside the cabin and closed all the windows and locked himself in for a reflection and prayer. His thoughts went back to the time in the Straits of Surigao when the Lord helped him as he pretended to be fully armed and not alone. Pirates on three pump boats were circling around him to decide if he was easy prey.
Ben could not discern how much time has lapsed but suddenly the wind stood still and the sea became calm, as a sign of His presence. Feeling comfort in this, he continued to pray and fell asleep. The next day he found himself inside the cape of Davao. What a miracle.
But he was still about eight hours to Davao City without a rudder and was still at the mercy of the sea. And again another miracle, a rubber boat with four people happened to be passing by and helped him steer the boat to their barrio, approximately four hours away. They fed and sheltered him; even made two new rudders for his boat so he can proceed to Davao City, all for free.
Now there is a catamaran for sale, really cheap but you have to go to Davao to get it. And what is Ben’s final word on this? “I can tell you quite frankly that there is definitely a better way to travel than the way I did it and, never again.”
After doing everything to get a seat in the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP), Tommy Manotoc finally abandons the idea and formed his own group, the Philippine Golf Development Foundation (PGDF). The new powerhouse group includes Montito Garcia and Alex Montilibano in their board and should be the much-needed shot in the arm for Philippine golf.
As we understand it, PGDF’s mission is to help the sport of golf in the Philippines by complementing existing programs and creating new ones to improve the development of our local pros and jungolfers. Presumably, the aim is to make our Filipino golf professionals qualify and win abroad, especially in the PGA.
This will hopefully end all the talk about NGAP president Feliciano saying that Manotoc only wants to get in to curtail the strong military presence in NGAP. Well, there is military everywhere and there is politics everywhere, so what else is new.
Whatever it is, we should not confuse private golf clubs from public golf clubs.
On the ladies side, the WGAP organization should benefit most from the new group because they have been embraced by the PGDF. The rival women’s group, the Southern Ladies Open being a part of NGAP.
GOLF TIP: If you are often hitting the toe of your driver or pulling your tee shots to the left, the cause may be that your upper body rotates to impact and then quits. Not only does this “shorten” your arms, it also pulls your arm inside the target line and negates any proper release of the club.
A good drill to remind you to rotate your torso through impact and follow-through is to practice this portion of the swing only. Start at the impact position; weight on the left side, hips cleared, shoulders slightly open and bring the club to the full follow-through position. Without the momentum of the swing, you will rely primarily on your torso rotation to get you there and the arms will follow.
(email: erchiongbian@yahoo.com)
(April 22, 2004 issue)
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