I’M sure Bill Lawrence and Bob Tibbets of Baguio Country Club would love this.
Or, they’d be envious?
I don’t think so. If I know these guys, they’d celebrate at the BCC verandah—Bill with a strawberry shake, Bob an ice-cold beer—after reading this.
I love you, guys.
I guess, same thing goes with Charles Maxey of Davao and Jerome Galunan of Bacolod. Also with my compadres from Cebu, Nimrod Quiñones of The Freeman and Mike Limpag of Sun.Star Cebu.
The reason I’m saying all this?
Phil Mickelson was my pro when I played the Toyota World Match Play Pro-Am in Wentworth, England, in 1998.
Pardon the breast-beating but can you blame me?
My partner Phil just won the 74th Masters—his fourth major in this decade. And, in my own little way, I have raised some glasses to celebrate the occasion--within the confines of my own humble home.
How can I not do that?
Invisible Phil was on my right while I sipped wine, with Sky Flakes, corned beef and cheese on the side. To my left is Prof. Sol F. Juvida, of course.
“Let’s enjoy the game, partner,” Mickelson said to me before we teed off in ‘98, shaking my hand with a grip only a champion could do.
“Thanks, Phil,” I said, clasping the hand that would help launch his first Masters triumph six years later.
Remember that Mickelson shot last week in-between two pine trees on 13, the last hole of the treacherous Amen Corner at Augusta National?
What if it hit any one of those two huge trunks?
It could have cost Mickelson the championship and had Lee Westwood ending up the winner, right?
That second shot was the shot of the tournament, the shot that won for Mickelson his third Masters, counting his 2004 and 2006 victories.
He putted twice for birdie on that hole after a birdie on 12. On 15, he made birdie again and then saved a delicate par on 17 for a 2-shot cushion over Westwood going to 18.
Mickelson won by 3.
I was in Boracay during the weekend. And I also clunked glasses there with Danny “Sir John” Isla, the first vice president of Toyota Motor Philippines. A golf nut like me.
So, c’mon, guys, let’s hear it. Three cheers for your buddy, please?
Hep-hep! All Write! Hep-hep! All Write! Hep-hep! All Write!
Thanks, Phil.
(alsol47@yahoo.com)