Mike mopes for Jason in the Byron Nelson
Sacramento, California—Fired up like a wire service reporter, Mike Genovea Sr. kept his Facebook friends updated as he followed the final round of the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament on television over the past weekend.
You could sense from his bulletins that Genovea, sports editor of the Manila Chronicle back in the day swaggered, smiled and eventually scowled as Filipino-Australian Jason Day climbed up from the 18th spot to the top of the leaderboard at one point.
Day eventually lost in sudden death to American Billy Horschel at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Irving, Texas.
“Sayang (What a waste!), said frustrated ex-scribe George Reyes in an FB post.
Reyes was commiserating with Genovea, a former president of the Philippine Sportswriters Association who now lives with his family in California’s Bay Area.
Genovea noted that while Horschel’s 18-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole stopped just short of the cup, he won with a par anyway. That’s because Day pulled his 4-foot par putt left and missed the hole.
Horschel, who did not make the cut in his only two previous Nelsons in 2011 and 2012, closed with a one under 69 on Sunday (Monday, Manila time).
His card included a 60-foot birdie putt at the 14th hole to match Day’s at 12-under 268 to force the playoff.
Day, whose Filipino mom Dening is his inspiration for becoming one of the world’s premier golfers, banked $810,000 to Horschel’s $1.35 million.
It was ironic that Day got the first of his 10 PGA victories at the Nelson in 2010.
Filipino-American head coach Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat and his Houston counterpart Mike D’Antoni were named co-recipients of the inaugural Michael H. Goldberg National Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year Award earlier this month.
Both men will now vie with San Antonio Spurs head mentor Gregg Popovich for the NBA Coach of the Year award during the first NBA awards show scheduled on June 22.
Spoelstra and Miami missed the last and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, on a tiebreaker.
“If you are not fired by the middle of the year, you’ve done a hell of a job,” he told sportswriters recently.
On his ninth year as head coach, Spoelstra, whose mom Elisa Celino hails from San Pablo in Laguna, has coached the Heat to two NBA championships in 2012 and 2013.
His dad John is also part Filipino. Unknown to many, Spoelstra’s grandfather, Watson, was a long-time sportswriter for the Detroit News.
