WHEN I told Mike, the driver of the media van in the PAL Interclub, that one golfer’s large belt-like contraption was for his injury, he thought I was joking.
It was after dinner in the third day of the coverage, when I went out to light up and got to talk with the two media van drivers.
“Maka-injure gali na ang golf sir?” he asked.
“Of course,” I told him.
He thought the belt was the golfer’s way to advertise his physique and not for his bad back. I don’t know whether Mike was joking but he said he assumed the guy was a boxer.
“Abi nako boxer kay dakodako lawas kag may belt pa,” the other driver said.
But I know Mike wasn’t joking when he said golf was a boring sport and that he was surprised somebody could get injured in such a harmless activity.
There’s a hole near the clubhouse, which is near where the media center is located, and Mike said the rare times he got to see the golfers in action, they were in the putting green.
He thought that golfers are as relaxed on the putting green as they are everywhere else on the course when they play.
But they aren’t.
Before I played my first 18 holes, I thought golf would be just like a leisurely walk in the park—interrupted by a few shots.
But it isn’t.
I’ve tried baseball, football, tennis, running, and basketball even and my back, knees and the rest of my extremities never hurt as much as they did after playing golf.
This reminds me of one Tiger Woods incident back in 2008, when the then wholesome golfer won the US Open on one knee.
Woods, who had to go through an 18-hole playoff plus sudden death, later said he’d been playing for 10 months on a bum knee.
Most writers called his victory “heroic,” and “epic” but I remember one AP boxing columnist scolding his colleagues for the lavish praises they gave on Woods.
He said calling Woods’ victory “heroic” and “epic” because of his bum knee was an insult to boxers who survive knockdowns, cuts and dislocated shoulders even to win a fight.
I always thought it was crazy comparing two sports but while boxing is a physical sport, so is golf.
And Woods didn’t just beat one guy in 12 three-minute rounds, he beat the world’s best in four 18-hole rounds in four days, and Rocco Mediate in a 19-hole playoff in the fifth day.
And that’s not something that happens every day.
BANDANNA VS. HEAT STROKE. Did you know that one effective tool against heat stroke is a good ol’ bandanna?
I learned that from one of the crazy survival shows in Discovery channel.
Outdoors you can wear a cap—or a bandanna. But indoors—where heatstroke can still get you—it’s still effective. Just wet it and wrap it around your neck—or your jugular—and it will help cool your blood.
I remember that advice very clearly because I was so willing to trade my arm for a bandanna when I was cooking under the Bacolod sun last week.
Or you could avoid the sun all together this summer but hey, where’s the fun in that?
With the way the weather is acting this time, I don’t think you can avoid the heat, even indoors.
(mikelimpag@gmail.com)