FILE–Cassius Casas.–INQUIRER GOLF
MANILA, Philippines–The local golf world will continue to mourn after losing another great ex-national team member and pro in Felix “Cassius” Casas Sunday night in Davao. He would have turned 58 years old on Nov. 28.
Just two days after another former Philippine team spearhead in Alex Prieto passed, Casas succumbed to heart failure at Davao Doctors before the strike of midnight on Sunday, with his common law wife Joy at his bedside.
“He went away peacefully,” Fredo Casiao, a teaching pro at Manila Southwoods who is married to Casas’ favorite niece, Christina, told the Inquirer in Filipino on Monday. “He even had his favorite meals in his last two days. As if he knew something.”
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Born and raised in Davao and learning the game at Apo Golf where some of the country’s best talents have come, Casas started out working at a very young age as a caddy at the tree-lined course. He would become friends with Bong Lopez, and the duo would later spearhead Philippine teams to Putra Cup and Southeast Asian Games gold medals before Casas would dominate the lucrative local pro scene.
“He was the most brash and confident player I have ever seen and played with,” Lopez recounted in a separate interview. “Because he knew he had the game to back up his talk.
“I will never forget a Putra Cup tournament when we were up by just one (stroke) and he was the last player on the course playing the last hole,” Lopez said.
“He hit his approach to a bunker, in a difficult situation, before asking me what the score was,” he narrated. “I told him that we were just one-up. After hearing that, and despite the difficult shot he was facing, he told me ‘champion na tayo.’ “He landed his blast less than a foot from the cup and the team celebrated.”
Casiao and Casas were also very close, because the 2001 PH Open and two-time PH Masters champion had a liking to Casiao’s wife, daughter of elder sister Angelica.
“He saw my wife as his adopted daughter,” Casiao, who is set to fly back to Davao to pay his last respects to Casas, said. “And that’s why we loved him also so much that even if we are here (in Cavite) we make it a point to take care of his there.”
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Casas had open heart surgery seven years ago and had opted for the quiet life in a seaside in Davao Oriental, about four hours away from the city he grew up in.
“But we received a call from him three days ago, asking us to fetch him so he can stay at our house,” Casiao said. “He said that he had some trouble breathing.”
While at the Casiao home, Casas asked for some pancit (rice noodles) before he was taken to the hospital. Before his check-up, he even feasted on his favorite McDonald’s sandwich.
Cassius belonged to a brood of six that had four boys, and all of the boys have now passed because of heart failure, Casiao said.
“His oldest brother died earlier this year, and I think he was just 61,” Casiao said. “The youngest of the boys, Renegade, also a former pro, died before he was 40, I think.”
Support poured out for Cassius, like when he did when he had his heart procedure in 2017, as long-time Southwoods friends Dr. Andrew Pineda and Eu Puyat led a drive that made sure the national golfing treasure would have a decent burial.
Even Southwoods, which he played out of during his pro career, was at the forefront in helping the fallen great.
“The family thanks Cassius’ friends and Southwoods,” Casiao said. “The family is grateful because Cassius will have the burial he deserves.” INQ