Friday, February 01, 2008 Garcia: RPVGCC Tournament of Champions By Imee Garcia
THE finals for the Tournament of Champions (Women's Category) of Rancho Palos Verdes Golf & Country Club (RPVGCC) last weekend boiled down to just seven players who competed for the title.
The final match was between Frankie Liu and Imee Garcia (yours truly). And the winner, after a tight and exciting battle was...ME! Yippee!
It was a very exciting match. We were all square after 5 holes (all square meaning-a tie). On the sixth, seventh, and eighth holes, I was up by 3. On the 9th, my second shot fell on the ravine. Believe it or not, I went down there and hit my ball on a very steep and dangerous slope. Forget the snakes that point was too important for me to waste. It was around 15 yards below, but I knew I could hit it better from there rather than drop and hit a ball from behind the ravine. I got it out and into the green on the next shot, finished with a double bogey. Frankie made a double bogey too so it was a tie. It was a good save.
After 12 holes, I was up by 4 with 6 more holes to play. But, Frankie started playing much better, scoring a lot of pars, and I started playing lousy. She won the next 4 holes out of 5, and after 17 holes, we were once again back to all square, with one hole left to play, the 18th hole, ranked the hardest hole on the back nine.
Imagine what was going on inside my mind. And I can just imagine how pumped up Frankie was. But on the 18th hole, her ball sliced, and she had a hard time putting it on the green. I gathered my thoughts one last time, concentrated, focused on the shot, and I hit my drive straight and long. My next shot was in front of the green. I pitched it close to the hole then putted for par. Frankie finished with a 7.
What a relief! I'm glad I won because I would not have forgiven myself if I had lost it--because I was already up by 4 with 6 more holes to play! It was next to impossible to lose. But I almost did. In golf, it is really not over until it's over. If you were there watching, you would have strangled me or pulled my hair after the game or you would have thrown me at the lake. It was one of my most exciting matches EVER!
Frankie Liu by this time has left Davao once again...to pursue her education and continue on with her fun adventures. Good luck to you!
The finals for the Regular Men's and Seniors' Category were held last January 12 up to the 20th. In the Regular Men's Category of the RPVGCC Tournament of Champions, the winner and the one who is given the title of Club Champion is young Korean Lee Jong Wan. He beat local favorite Tibor Marcelino in the finals. The Division Champion final duo was between Louie Brodeth and Boy Limjuco. Louie Brodeth won the final match. And in the Seniors' Category, the final match was between Ben Venus and Joe Marfori. And the winner of the Seniors' Division of the Tournament of Champions is Joe Marfori.
Congratulations to the winners!
Tiger Woods wins the 2008 Buick Invitational held at Torrey Pines. It was his 62nd victory, so now he is tied with Arnold Palmer in fourth place on the all-time PGA Tour victory list. FYI, Sam Snead holds the record with 82 wins. In second place is Jack Nicklaus with 73 wins. Ben Hogan is in third with 64.
Tiger Woods won the opening tournament of the PGA Tour this season and received $936,000. And as for me, no money. What did I win... the honor of being called the champion!
