Ducky Paredes

“Angelo Que, who had qualified earlier for the British Open in July, played a steady game of one over par to beat back Gavin Flint of Australia.”

by Ducky Paredes

For the second straight year, the Filipino golfer has taken Philippine Open against the best of Asia. Angelo Que, who had qualified earlier for the British Open in July, played a steady game of one over par to beat back Gavin Flint of Australia. Flint had earlier tied with Angelo but dropped two shots on the back nine, missing par on the 18th hole. He finished third.
Danny Chia of Malaysia was in second one shot over Que’s 283 total.
The Philippine Open that concluded yesterday at Wack-Wack was one of the earliest golf tournaments for professionals and amateurs in our part of the world.
In 1960, Peter Thomson conceived a circuit of tournaments in Asia after playing in exhibition matches in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Thomson had already won 4 British Opens, successively from 1954 to 1956 and again in 1958.
In 1961, the first Singapore Open linked up with the Philippine and the Hong Kong Opens. The Philippine Open, which started in 1938, always attracted professionals from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Australia.
During the 1961 Open in Manila, Celso Tuason, President of the Philippines Golf Association suggested the formation of a Far East Golf Circuit to Thomson, Eric Cremin, President of the Australian P.G.A. and Atsushi Kida.
Thomson and Cremin played in many Asian countries and were closely associated with the various associations. They agreed to contact those countries for their participation. Kida promised to do his part in Japan.
In February 1962, the Far East Golf Circuit officially teed off, starting with the Philippine Open, which usually became the first leg of the Circuit. Singapore followed next, with Malaysia, Hong Kong and finally Japan.
The Circuit attracted professionals not only from Asia and Australia, American, British and European pros realized that they could use the Asian Circuit as a springboard to other more lucrative circuits.
In 1967, Skip Guinto, Secretary General of the Asia Golf Confederation which became the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation in 1979, proposed that the Circuit be reorganized under the auspices of the Confederation at its meeting in 1967 and renamed the Asian Golf Circuit.
The Confederation consisted of respective governing bodies of amateur golf in each country. Guinto became the Chairman of the Circuit Committee. 1970 marked the entry of India and Korea, and Indonesia joined the Circuit in 1974, boosting the total to 10 legs. Finally Pakistan joined in 1989.
Today, of course, this has evolved into the Asian Tour.
The Asian Tour is the official regional sanctioning body for professional golf in Asia. The mission of the Asian Tour is to expand tournament golf so as to substantially enhance the careers of its members, thereby developing and growing golf in Asia while maintaining a commitment to the integrity of the game.
The Asian Tour, through its membership of the International Federation of PGA Tours, is the only recognized pan-Asian professional golf tour in Asia. This unique feature positions the Asian Tour at the pinnacle of professional golf in Asia; providing its events with Official World Ranking status.
In January 2004 the tournament playing professionals of Asia formed a new player representative body named the Asian Tour to ensure control over their careers and the development of professional tournament golf in Asia.
This year, the Asian Tour will stage a minimum 27 events with over US$27 million in total prize money.
As before, the first tournament venue is usually the Philippines. This has been held in Wack Wack for the last three years.
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Valley Golf Club once again holds its annual member-guest tournament, called the Don Celso Tuason and Founders Cup from April 17 to 20, 2008. This is the ninth version of the tournament that began in 2000. Ever since the first Don Celso Tuason Cup in 2000 the tournament has grown to become the largest member-guest tournament in the country with over 850 players last year.
Don Celso, the golfer, was an amateur champion in his time and among the founders of Valley.
Club President Peng Estanislao and Tournament Chairman Pete Maniego are assuring participants of a grand tournament this year as Valley celebrates its 50th anniversary. The Club was founded in 1958 by Don Celso, Ernest Khan, Francisco Ortigas, Aurelio Montinola, Antonio Araneta, and Henry Belden. Valley has had a rich 50-year history and has been the site of the prestigious Philippine Open a number of times.
To accommodate the large number of participants, the two Valley Courses consisting of the Championship South Course and the challenging Executive Course will be used.
Each participant this year will receive a set of giveaways in the form of commemorative 50 Golden Years T-shirt, rain jacket, golf cap, trolley locker bag, bag tag, golf bag cover, and windproof umbrella, Total retail value would be P6,000.00.
The grand raffle prize will be a Mitsubishi Lancer GLX. In addition, there will be other major raffle prizes where both the member participant and his guest will win.
Hole in one prizes include Mitsubishi Outlander SC18, Mitsubishi Lancer EC6, Yamaha Golf Car EC12, Club Car, Mizuno Golf Sets, a Nike Set of Irons, a Maxfli Golf Set, Asian Spirit air tickets and Callaway driver.
Tournament Presentors this year are Smart Communications, and Alaxan FR/Havitall.
Major Sponsors this year include Arms Corporation, The Coca Cola Export Corporation, Outback Steakhouse and Makati Skyline.

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We have a letter: “Allow me to mention that I thought you were not open minded enough when the NBN issue was on everybody’s attention.
“Please do accept my apology. It just hurt me a lot when I read (misread?) an earlier article trying to rationalize the action of the current administration to stonewall any fact-finding effort for the general population to know more about the NBN controversy.
“The columnists of Malaya had been my must read article writers. Kindly support all efforts to make governance as transparent as possible and censure anybody who tries to govern without any accountability to the people.” — Jun Fabros
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Thanks for your letter, Jun. Judge your favorite columnists by what they write not only daily but also over a period of time. Respect their views, too, just as they respect yours. Like you, our views also evolve over time. If you like reading a columnist only because he writes what you are thinking, what is the use of reading him? What do you gain from reading your own thoughts in someone else’s column?
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hvp 04.06.08)