Thursday, March 08, 2007 Chiongbian: Bombi ‘breaks’ all rules on golf By Edgar R. Chiongbian Teetime
THERE will be some major golf tournaments coming up so it’s a good time as any to get your game all tuned up.
The club and class championships in various clubs are scheduled this month. The Cebu Country Club championships will be on time this year and will be held towards the end of the month. And then in mid-April comes the highly successful UBS golf tournament at CCC.
The Copa de Casino Español sports bonanza was launched last Friday with everything free; complete with fireworks that literally got everybody off their seats. On hand to greet the members and guests were Casino Español de Cebu president Cheling Sala, Copa chairman Nonoy Tirol, sports director Nonoy Alba, club director Rico Gandionco and the amiable emcee, Bunny Pages.
The tennis tournament was the first one of the seven sports to start, which was last Saturday. If you have not decided yet, there is still time to join the fun because the other sports events have not yet started. And there are still open slots for bowling, billiards, swimming, poker and golf. Bowling will start on March 12, billiards on March 23, poker and swimming on March 25 and golf on March 29. All tournaments will be held at the Casino Español except for golf, which will be at CCC. The golf tournament is open to all members of CCC, Casino Español and CE guests.
The bowling, billiards, swimming and poker are individual events, while the rest are team events. Registration continues till the day before the tournament starts or when all slots have been filled. The tournament chairmen are; Jeffrey Dico (tennis), Carlos Alvarez Jr. (badminton) Lito Sy (bowling), Oliver Ko (billiards), ERC (golf), Luis Moro III (poker) and Alex Oquias and Roy Vincent Gopuco (swimming).
If you are interested, you can contact the club or the tournament chairmen to reserve your spot. For early registration in golf, call Rudy Rubi at Casino Español for your preferred time slots. The format for golf is team play of four players—three to count.
A car, motorcycle and TV are the prizes for the hole-in-one (with multiple holes) on each par three. Giveaways will be given to participants of all the events.
There is a standing debate as why one makes a hole-in-one. Is it luck or is it skill? There is some truth that it is very rare for a golfer with very little skill, like a beginner, to make a hole in one. No one has a made a real study on this but my humble opinion is that in hole-in-ones, it is about luck before skill.
Take the case of Montito Garcia, who just recently made a hole-in-one, and for a long time carried a zero handicap and Eric Deen has a handicap of three. Yet Eric has more than twice the hole-in-ones Montito has. We can say, then, that this is the positive example of luck before skill scenario. Having said that, I stand to say that the measure of skills with some luck—is not in hole-in-ones—but in making eagles, especially double eagles.
The story, however, doesn’t end there because a certain person named Bombi Aznar just put a wedge in the logic. Anyway he is the exception to every rule and on everything. Bombi Aznar last Friday made a double eagle or an Albatros on the par five ninth hole of Alta Vista by making a two on the hole. This is an equivalent of making a hole-in-one on a par 4. That must have been a hell of a drive but I am sure it was with the help of the cart path.
A double eagle is a feat reserved only for long and accurate hitters. Yet Bombi did it, so what gives! He is not only the luckiest golfer in Cebu but he is also the most accomplished with seven hole-in-ones to his name. He is not only a long hitter but also the longest to hit. He is not only a long time player of golf but also the longest player of golf to play. Yul Brunner would say on the big screen,” Now it has been said, so it shall be written.”
By the time we get to Butuan, you will be rising. Your Cebuano and eastern Visayas Rotarians will be in Butuan for District Conference of 3860 that starts today until Saturday. So on the way back after the Discon, some Rotarian golfers led by DGE Yumi Espina will be traveling by land to Cagayan de Oro and play golf at the Pueblo golf course.
GOLF TIP. The toughest thing to do in golf is to get rid of the hand action. Everybody wants to hit the ball harder and they think the way to do it is by hitting it with the hands or flicking the wrists. When you do that, your arms slow down.
Speeding up your arms is the only real way to hit it farther, and the only way to speed up your arms is to let them swing in a circle, without interfering with that swinging motion. A golf swing needs a center. That means you shouldn’t shift your weight to the back foot on the backswing, or consciously shift it forward on the forward swing. If you force the weight shift, you will be too fast or too slow. (erc@skyinet.net)
