Pinoy Golfer Blog

Robert J. Bettinardi, Jr. Last year, Bettinardi Golf went back to its roots and produce putters independently in their state-of-the-art facility in Tinley, Illinois after. Soon after, company president Robert Bettinardi appointed Red Golf as the exclusive distributor in the Philippines. Red Golf has maintained strong ties with Pinoygolfer.com having been there from the very beginning. Three of the founding forum moderators – jick, xxio, and w2 – are also founding partners of Red Golf. Red Golf continues to provide forum members with special offers and privileges, and always support Pinoygolfer.com activities. Bettinardi Golf quickly made its presence felt in Philippine soil. Using the... Read More

When adidas Philippines Golf Division manager Jorel Buhay called to offer the chance to interview Filipino-Australian phenom Jason Day after his win at the Byron Nelson, we jumped at the chance. After all, Day is the best and highest ranked Pinoygolfer on the planet. Here’s the transcript of our conversation. You are half Filipino – do you still stay in touch with your filipino roots such as eating Filipino food etc? I’m half Filipino on my mum’s side – she’s from a small town near Manila, I’m not sure exactly where. I grew up eating some Filipino foods but I’m not very familiar with the food. I don’t speak the language but I feel I should get back in touch with my roots. Any... Read More

Today we got a little glimpse of the future of the game of golf. Lorena Ochoa retires, Ai Miyazato wins her third LPGA tournament of the year and Shin Jiyai replaces Ochoa as the new world number 1. Ryo Ishikawa shoots 58 in the final round of The Crowns for his seventh win on the Japan Tour and Alvaro Quiros, perhaps the game’s longest hitter, wins the Spanish Open in a playoff. But perhaps the most impressive of the prodigies; Rory McIlroy shoots 62 in the final round of the Quail Hollow which included going 5-under par in the last 5 holes to win the tournament over Phil Mickelson after making the number on the cut. Notice the trend? The guard has changed. The new generation of golf... Read More

Go down the list of what are now commonly called extreme sports and you won’t find golf listed among them. But a couple of fanatical golfers have found a way to elevate the normally staid game of golf to a level that can only be described as extreme when they played 144-holes of golf in one day. Tired but triumphant, Escaler and Soong celebrate after 12 hours on the course That’s right; 144-holes of golf in a day. Well, 12-hours to be more precise. Whatever, that’s a month’s worth of golf to many and these guys did it in a day. Wellington “Willy” Soong and Noel Escaler aren’t new to this. In fact in consecutive years from 2005 to 2007, they played 5, 6 and then 7 rounds of golf... Read More

My time at the 93rd Philippine Open was not all fun and games. There was lots to do and a lot of it was important work. The 13th (4th on the Lobo) My morning usually began at 6 AM when I would go into the tournament office, pick up a pin sheet and go do the rounds of the golf course. On my way out I also checked the tournament tees to make sure they were in the right spots and the correct width apart but the real objective was to make sure the pin placements were correctly reflected on the pin sheets. The pros needed to be 100% confident that the information they have is correct. If there was a discrepancy, a radio call was made to the two starters and the other tournament referees to make sure... Read More

Things being what they were back in those days, the British, Irish and Scot engineers that built the country’s railways were responsible for the spread of the great game in the far flung reaches of the country. The game coalesced in The Philippines at the turn of the century under the rule of the Americans. British nationals, most of whom were associated with the Manila Railway Company, which was opened in 1892 by the British, pined for their favoured Scottish pastime. In 1901, they cleared a large, fairly level tract of land in the area adjoining the railroad station, several kilometers north of the walled city of Intramuros, where the residence of the railroad’s manager was located. Since... Read More

The following is an article I researched and wrote with Adel Gabot for the first issue of Swing Magazine back in January of 2005 on the greatest Filipino golfer of all time. It’s too good to not republish here. Among the many stories about the late, great Larry Montes, three of them involve Japan. Emperor Hirohito was a golfer in a big way. The Emperor, hearing that Montes was in the country, insisted that Montes live in the Imperial Palace and teach him golf. He did and taught his homegrown style to Japanese royalty. Normally this story, while interesting would be unremarkable, if not for the fact that no foreigners are allowed to live in the Imperial Palace. Larry Montes was the first... Read More

If you follow golf on TV, then you already know Tony Meechai. With his black hat and his “Boom!” at the conclusion of his golf tip segment on the Nike Golf Club, he’s become one of the best known and most recognizable golf instructors in Asia. So we were understandably taken by surprise at his sudden appearance at the awarding ceremonies of the Discovery Suites Inaugural Pro-Am tournament in South Forbes recently. What a treat! Scrambling to recover from shock, we managed to shoehorn ourselves into his jam-packed schedule for a (very) quick interview. Mike Besa – Who is Tony Meechai and how did you get started in golf? Tony Meechai – I was born and raised in the United States in a... Read More

It’s been almost a month since the 14th Philippine International Golf Show closed its door at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia so this commentary might seem a bit tardy. But to comment constructively, I find that it’s best to let things sit a while before tackling the issues involved; it helps to develop perspective and gives me a chance to talk to the people that make up the show, both exhibitors and patrons to get a good handle on the state of the show. The show, which is staged by GDAP and Fairs and More, has been criticized in other quarters for being just a discount and selling exercise and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. As former GDAP President Gerald Raymundo... Read More

He wasn’t supposed to lose. It was pre-ordained. After all, Tiger Woods had won 70 professional golf tournaments in his career, 44 of 47 tournaments with the 54-hole lead and was 14-0 in the majors under the same circumstances, but lose he did. More correctly, he got his hat handed to him on a platter. Tiger Woods was defeated at the 2009 PGA Championships, the golf world’s final major championship of the year by unheralded 37-year old Korean Yang Yong-Eun (known on Tour as Y.E. Yang), the son of a farmer that didn’t pick up the game until he was 19 and only turned professional when he was 29. This after Tiger had led the tournament for the first three rounds and seemed set for a wire... Read More

Fresh off his stint at the US PGA Championships at Haleztine Golf Club in Minnesota, Thonghai Jaidee flew straight to Manila to host an exclusive golf clinic for HSBC’s most valued customers and friends. The clinic was held in part to support the UNICEF Regional Youth and Education Program. Incorporating a unique philanthropic twist, the bank held a nearest to the pin competition for each of the five sessions of the clinic; donating $10,000 to UNICEF. Ever the trooper, Jaidee was in fine spirits after his marathon flight and day long clinic. I doubt he slept very much at all having flown in at 3 AM. Still he was kind enough to spend a good hour and a half fielding questions from the press... Read More

No golfer talks about the affliction that we all know as “the YIPS”. It’s almost like a curse; don’t say it or think it and maybe it won’t affect you. Kinda like “the Shanks”. But the sad fact of the matter is that most, if not all golfers will have an experience or two with one or both of these demons. The question is what does one do in the midst of such a dilemma? I was never a really good putter. I’m streaky and have had my moments, but I always felt that putting was the weakest part of my game. It’s what’s held me back as a golfer and is the most vulnerable part of my game. My bout of the yips goes back to the Chairman’s... Read More

Elmer Salvador became the latest winner on the fledgling Philippine Golf Tour at the ICTSI Sherwood Hills Classic. He played wonderful golf on a tough golf course in adverse weather conditions, shot under par each of the three days to win the tournament by 5 over charging Benjie Magada. The man can play. He also had a not-so-desirable reputation for choking at the crucial stages of the tournaments. He’d been in or close to the lead in a handful of the previous PGT events and just couldn’t close the deal, usually with errors at key moments to fall out of the lead. Well, that all changed that stormy week at Sherwood Hills. Interestingly Salvador started his life in golf as a “lake-boy”... Read More

John Palanca, Boom Coscolluela, Cassius Casas and Juanchit Jose at the ICTSI Sherwood Hills Classic Proam We played the Proam of the ICTSI Sherwood Hills Golf Classic at Sherwood Hills yesterday and were paired with neo-pro Jomar Pepito. At 27-years of age, Jomar isn’t a youngster trying to break into the big time. He’s a talented first year professional that’s trying to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the Philippine Golf Tour, the first professional golf tour in the Philippines for the last ten years. A professional tour event usually starts with a proam to get the pros and their fans together to deepen their relationship on the links as well as off. Jomar... Read More