Old pals

MASTER BLASTER

Neil Bravo

It was way too early to leave the bed for one who had practically worked like a dog for a bustling sports event management business. But at 5 o’clock in the morning, Darren Evangelista was at the gate of my house honking his then brand new Kia Rio. For consecutive two days, Darren drove me to Apo and Palos Verdes for the Philippine Airlines Media golf tournament.

Today, Darren’s empire—the Evangelista conglomerate of companies--has grown and has tremendously diversed in the thriving sports industry. I bet my last sleeve of golf balls he would not wake up this early to drive me to the golf course. He is too occupied for that.

Darren was not playing golf then. He would not give the sport a second look. Today, six months after taking the sport, he has practically made the golf driving range his second home trying to perfect a nasty swing. Given a few more months, he is way on his way.

Darren is ready to the next step but that is not necessarily playing regular golf alone. There is a bigger project on the table which includes a Media Pro-Am Tournament dubbed as Commissioner’s Cup sometime next month. The bigger thing of course will be unwrapped soon but I am not sanctioned to divulge it this early.

It helped that Darren is now the Commissioner of the Professional Golf Association of the Philippines (PGAP). As Commissioner, Darren is now in the thick of things mapping the programs of the country’s professionals. That is why there is also a Commissioner’s Cup which Darren desires to be the coming out party of the new PGAP.

The 2009 PAL Media golf tournament was the last PAL-sponsored tournament I joined. At this time last year, I was grappling with the mock Bar exams.

The PAL tournament will be held at nearby Cagayan de Oro this year at the Pueblo and Del Monte courses. I got my invitation to play in the media golf again thru the efforts of my pareng Al Mendoza who reached PAL VP Doming Duerme. Mirror sports ed Leo Palo will be covering the regular men’s tournament of this year’s PAL Interclub.

If I get to play in the PAL tournament, I would be testing the new driver and 4-wood Darren lent me after I got to hit the Japanese brand clubs one night at the driving range.

Joining the PAL media golf tournament means reconnecting with the old pals covering the PAL Interclub which I have done in regular fashion a few years back. It is in the Interclub that I got to know of pareng Al who I idolized as a young sportswriter back in my high school days. Al is godfather to my daughter Jill who was born on my birthday—a feat equalled by pareng Nimrod Quinones of Freeman Cebu with his son Nico. Me and Al are godfathers to Nico while Nimrod and Al are the same to Jill.

I played with pareng Nimrod last November at the Alta Vista in Cebu and we both recalled our PAL golfing escapades.

For the record, no golfer from either Cebu or Davao has won the PAL media golf tournament. Last year, Roy Geonzon of Radyo Ukay was playing well going into the first 6 holes at Palos Verdes but he self-destruct after that.

Me? Oh, it’s beyond my wildest dreams winning the PAL media title. But one thing is enough for me. Playing with old pals is already a win in itself.

A good walk unspoiled.