I AM still here in Baguio City, about to conclude my Rules Man duties in the Fil-Am Golf Invitational ending Dec. 15 at both Camp John Hay and Baguio Country Club.
The end draws near and Jake P. Ayson, my perennial rules partner, and I can only now look forward to a return trip next year, God permitting.
As Jake loves to say: “For us, podner, no golf tournament can ever rival the Fil-Am’s magnetic power.”
After letting our stemmed glasses make their final kiss, Jake would end the night by saying: “To the Fil-Am that is tied to our calendar for as long as we are able.”
My response: “And for as long as BCC GM Anthony de Leon continues to want us to serve in the Fil-Am!”
Upon hearing that, Jake would promptly raise his glass and say: “Cheers to our love that lives in the heart forever!”
Being a Rules Man for decades or so now is not that exactly lovable, really. Basically, it’s just love of the game that has tied Jake and I to the Fil-Am all these years.
Look, it takes guts to dismiss dagger looks thrown your way by a player penalized during play.
And onion-skinned you shouldn’t be or you had better quit the job quick.
As California-based Percy Della, the Inquirer’s eminent sports columnist possessed of a prose that is almost of no equal, said it during his recent surprise visit to our BCC lair: “I can’t imagine you ending up as a golf referee. You, wild man!”
His final shot: “And by mastering the ramifications of the rules, man, do you still have time to write your columns appearing in several national papers almost every day of the week?”
Percy was building his own niche in sportswriting in a national daily in Manila in the ‘70s when he decided to migrate to America—mainly to chase the “love of my life.”
He has retired as chief information officer of California, having once served under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“I’d rather not talk about his style of governance,” says Percy.
Percy has retreated with his Dear Lily to a charming seaside house in Candon City in Ilocos Sur, but that’s another story.
Welcome home, podner.