SWAG Golf Club

Saturday, June 13 2009

2009 Ed Batang Memorial Tournament
Champ Lino "The Raging Bull" Emnas with his #1 fan Laura Diaz of LPGA

Saturday's battle at SeaOaks will go down SWAG's history as a game of first. This is the first time four players tied at second place, and the first time, two players are still deadlocked even after a second countback was done. As you are reading this, the SWAG rules board is searching for the specific rule in the book that would break this improbable tie. This is also the first time a new longest hitter winner did not come from the perennial contenders who dominated the category on most tour games. Could this be an omnious changing of the guard?

Meanwhile, congratulations to the unsuspecting eventual winner Lino "The Raging Bull" Emnas who rode a smooth 39/39 from out of the 2nd flight consisting of Kelly C, Lito A & Bert P. Capitalizing on the absence of the deadly Hollnsteiners, he turned in 2 closest to the pin and one birdie, in the process garnering the lowest gross of 78 for the tournament. A distant 2nd low gross of 84 was carded by Oca B & Cary "B2B" Africa. Kudos go to our new long drive sensation, Ronnie Biazon. Birdie winners include Jun Bada, Jimmy G, Oca B & Bert P. Extra funding from this department came through the courtesy of our 9 visiting friends from POGI. It was good to have you, guys.

At the ensuing celebration at the Portuguese BBQ in Clark, someone suggested that the player's height be the deciding factor to the deadlock at second place consisting of Vic 'The Manor Paragas, Oca Jueteng King Briones, Jimmy 'The Greek' Gochuico, and Nimrod,' Silent Assasin' Bernales. Their gallant performances yielded a net of 71, just one stroke short of the winning net score of 70 by Lino E. The last two players are the ones battling for the coveted 2nd place trophy right now.

Speaking of celebration, last night's celebration was simply a jaw dropping experience in terms of speed of service and quantity of food served. Appetizers of shrimp with chopped garlic & spicy sauce and fried chorizo the bilbaos were swiftly gobbled down with Sangrias and ice cold Becks Beers followed by the favorite spare ribs and chargrilled chicken with fried rice and shoestring potatoes, thus filling us up to the gills. Either champ Lino E slipped the waiter a couple of Benjamins or he knows how to speak Portuguese. Way to go Champ!

As Melvin, Roland, Jojo P and I were traversing the wet GSP highway on our way home last night, we can't help but touch on how SWAG's last two games were blessed with some terrific golf weather. Just think about this....historically, 90% of our games held at Oldehomestead were either rained out or simply turned into a rainy affair. At SeaOaks on Saturday, the weather was partly cloudy but conditions were dry, while the northeast area was being hammered by strong wind and rain the whole day. It is quite simple. These two games were held in memory of our great friends Val Gapas (Oldehomestead) and Ed Batang (SeaOaks). They just might still be trying to out do each other. It won't surprise me if they held a tournament simultaneously up there, as well.

Thanks Val and Ed for taking care of us.... we owe you one.

Orly T

6/14/09