PH a world golf stop amid leadership turmoil

“IF THE prize is right, they will come,” gushed my  friend Joaquin “Jake” Ayson, a former national golf official, while ticking off the dueling golf Opens that have turned or will turn PH into a tantalizing stop for the world’s touring pros this year.

The pot for each of the Opens is mind-boggling enough.

First came the $300,000 Solaire Open held a fortnight ago at Wack Wack under the sponsorship of Solaire Resort and Casino. Next on the tee will be the $750,000 Resorts World Masters set at the Manila Southwoods  Nov. 14 to 17.

Both events are under the auspices of the Asian Tour.

A week or so later, the Philippine Open, its trademark owned by the National Golf Association of the Philippines, gets going with prize money that could make the Resorts World Masters’ shelf life short as the country’s richest golf event ever.

I have learned that ongoing talks are fast and furious with managers of Australian-Filipino golf sensation Jason Day, a near winner of the US Open and Masters two years ago. The goal is to give Day, whose mother is a Filipino, a homecoming and the incentive to play in the Philippine Open, one of the world’s longest running golf tournaments for men.

With more funding that won’t cause its traditional sponsors to go cross-eyed, the purse for the PH Open under the upstart but wealthy OneAsia Tour could go up from the current $700,000 to a cool million, according to a knowledgeable source.

The Opens and their deliciously hefty paychecks could soon change the way we look at our share of international golf tournaments. It’s no longer about what we see, but who we see during these events.

However, it’s not always great news and good cheer on the local golf scene. There is rift and rivalry involving two of its most dominant personalities.

The enmity has not killed off the country as a major golf destination, but it is a landmine that’s tough to navigate around.

“Pagalitan mo sila (Scold them),” suggested my bosom buddy, a former sports editor. “Para matauhan, ilabas mo ang alitan nila.” (To jolt their senses, wash their dirty linens in public.)

I was only able to touch base with one of the parties. I am not about to pass judgment on the other who chose not to speak.

Can we just get along for the good of golf? I asked both by text. My first foray as a peacemaker went down badly.

I hear that the clashing duo’s issues range from the substantive to the sublime. There is conflict on junior golf development.

There is even a race for the attention of the sport’s acknowledged godfather.

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I saw Danilo Cano at a recent reunion 47 years after we graduated from high school. Among our tallest classmates, Danny became a star on the basketball team. He played varsity ball in college but faced with heftier, more elongated foes, he stopped chasing his hoop dreams and became a medical technologist instead.

“Mag-golf o magboksing na lang tayo (Let’s  get into golf and boxing instead). Wala tayong panalo laban sa mga higante ng mundo (We stand no chance versus the giants of the world),” said the active member of the seniors club in NIA Village, Quezon City.