SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA?Business honchos swinging while closing deals at Mandaluyong?s Wack Wack are sure talking about it.
So are the antsy caddies squat on the parking lot while waiting for the weekday warriors to trickle in at Mabalacat, Pampanga?s blue-collar Marina golf course.
Across the golf spectrum, Manny Pacquiao?s victory over Juan Manuel Marquez on March 15 is second rate?compared to Jeff Ogilvy?s at Doral, Florida, on Monday.
Australia?s Ogilvy won less money than Pacquiao for the weather-shortened CA Championship, but his win was the sexier story, especially on a slow sports day.
You see, Ogilvy, 30, held off four of the world?s best golfers to go wire to wire.
And one of those golfers happens to be the planet?s no. 1?Tiger Woods.
Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champ, finished the weather-suspended final round with a one-under par 71. He scored nine straight pars for the win.
But the real storyline is that the bloke ended Woods? run of seven consecutive worldwide victories and five straight PGA Tour wins. Woods lost for the first time since September, when Phil Mickelson beat him at the Deutsche Bank Championship near Boston.
Ogilvy?s victory was worth $1.35-million and the Gene Sarazen Trophy.
His 17-under-par 271 total was a shot better than those of three-time major-championship winner Vijay Singh, two-time US Open winner Retief Goosen and US Open winner Jim Furyk.
?It?s not oppressive really that he (Tiger) wins all the time,? Ogilvy told the Los Angeles Times. ?It?s not like if he wasn?t winning them, I would definitely be winning them. It?s frustrating that everyone in the world basically says no one else is trying, including half the people in this [media] room.?
?The fact he?s winning, it?s quite fun to watch him sometimes. It?s fun to watch the fans get so excited about stuff. The frustrating thing is that people think that we?re not trying and we?re flying the white flag.
?I don?t think that?s true in any case.?
* * *
We have not heard from the man himself or from his surrogates, Abe King of the PBA Legends USA Foundation included.
But second-hand information from officials of the Cuyapo Association USA, has it that ex-PBA star and former senator Robert Jaworski either sent his apologies or is seeking them to apologize for not showing up at his own birthday party last March 8.
The event, planned jointly at the Banquet Restaurant in Vallejo by Cuyapo USA and Abe?s group was billed as a scholarship fundraiser for poor but deserving students in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija.
But due to a scheduling snafu or some other reason, Jaworski, who coached during the PBA Legends Tour?s game in Union City earlier that day, failed to attend.
Jawo was last spotted in Las Vegas where he joined the celebrities for the recent Pacquiao fight.
For the rich and the famous from home that are here on a short visit, this episode should serve as a cautionary tale of how to keep your image forever varnished.
