A humid twenty-four degrees Celsius welcomed a twenty-seven-member field at last Sunday’s Super Series week. Surprisingly enough, of all the Kaneff golf courses, Royal Ontario presented SGC with no uproar, nor a fuzz whatsoever so on we played away. Could it be the reason of this venue being farther away from the main office location? Whatever it was, SGC likened the fact that this golf course aside from being one of the nicest courses we played, no hassle from those who were running the show at this site. So far so good. Only one glitch though, a few of the greens were showing damaged done by abusive suspected golfers not repairing ball marks and showing disregard by leaving dragged shoe cleat marks on the green surface. A good reminder to all SGC members to exercise care every time we played any golf course which undoubtedly members continued to do so. It was a nice day with the sun shining brightly but we were taken by surprise because it rained hard but only for three holes during the round then the sun came out again for the rest of the afternoon.

Here’s how things ended up at last Sunday’s Royal Ontario event. It was just a matter of time for our mild-mannered sophomore member to show what he has got. After a winless year last year, Erland Ibañez got it together for his sixth game of the year. He warranted a huge win by signing a net score of 67 to seal a day prize victory. Erland distinctively winning the ever huge sought after Super Series contest as well as the Nassau back nine & total net corners. Hold on, he also connected winning the closest to the pin contest at par 3 eleventh hole nearly missing an ace by inches. Boy, talked about a wholesale sale, this was it. It was refreshing to see broke the monotony of habitual winners for the past three months. Ironically enough, Erland claimed that he did not break 100 playing Copetown golf course a day before as a member of SOGA organization.

Other Nassau corner winners: Jojo Dizon who is away for the next two weeks for a R&R shared the spotlight with Bong Munson by grabbing the front nine.

A cunning Sennix Bontigao feeling guilty to beat a previous nearest shot to the pin by Rey Plaza, got the closest at the par 3 eight hole.

Super Series 3: As mentioned above  Erland Ibañez captured the first prize with net score of 67 while four players shared second place with net 73 – Mar DeVeyra, Jojo Dizon, Exe Navarette, & Seho Oh.

Month 3 contest: A found new love with his recycled swing, Mar DeVeyra beat a heavily favored, disappointed Jimmy Manguerra by slimmest of margins – one stroke to win the monthly contest.  Mar, SGC’s original proud member since its creation way, way back, was making noise a lot lately. We noticed. JC Montilla settled farther back in third place money.

MIP: Results for race to Most Improved Player is posted. No new member has qualified for this contest. After fifteen games, only six members made it to regulations with ten games unaccounted for. JC Montilla leads the top six with 1.1265 differential points while Bingoy Peña comes second with a mere 0.1669 points behind. Mike Montilla, Jimmy Manguerra, & Rey Plaza are in third, fourth, & fifth place respectively with Jojo Dizon bringing up the rear in sixth place. Are we getting challenged yet as the season goes? Lots of time folks to get better.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Annual ‘Blind Partner’ contest this Sunday at Kingsforest. Entry for this contest is mandatory. If you show up and want to play, you are obligated to pay the entry fee of $20. For those new members, please ask a member about this contest or go to our ‘Local Rules’ web site for contest rules.

Food for thought: It is OK to compete. It is also OK to lose as you can’t win them all. Moral of this quip: “The feeling of losing makes it hard to swallow onto yourself but it is harder for others to keep going if you impose your ill feelings toward them.”

SGC was not sure if last Sunday’s round at Royal Woodbine golf course was going to happen at all. Why? Overnight rain as well as continuous rain from morning until mid afternoon. Twenty members hoping for the rain to stop were just hanging around the club house watching the 147th British Open which was won by Francesco Molinari taking with him the $1.89 million prize. Patrick Reed won $1.98 million for his Masters’ victory, and Brooks Koepka won $2.16 million at the U.S. Open. In case you wanted to know, Tiger Woods who squandered his lead at the eleventh and twelfth hole, tied for sixth and got $327K for his troubles. Anyway, mother nature gave us a break and after a bit past two o’clock in the afternoon, rain stopped so away we went. It turned out to be a beautiful day after all although the course was a bit soaked but other than that, temperature was ideal. The sun smiled on us in the latter part of our round.

Fourteenth game of the year and with wet course presented before us and with not much ball roll, you were setting up a stage for bombers and bombers alike, for sure. One of hard hitting members, Jimmy Manguerra fired a gem with a gross score of 69. Deservingly, Jimmy seized the day prize and he was also added to this summer’s multiple winner list. Jimmy also won the Nassau total net as well as the back nine.

Manny Marquez who got the habit of winning something every time he decided to show up and play, grabbed the Nassau front nine.

A cunning veteran member who most likely would not consider playing in a very wet setting, surprised himself by deciding to stay and play. Exe Navarette was the only other player to shoot in the net 60s as he signed his scorecard with net 66. Together with Jimmy Manguerra, both got a free ticket to next Sunday’s Super Series entry. Well done.

It was getting hot and heavy to three of the contests going on as we passed the halfway mark, almost.

Let’s start with Month 3 contest. Jimmy Manguerra dethroned last week’s leader, JC Montilla who now trails by five strokes. Mar DeVeyra sits in third place behind JC by a stroke.

In the race to POY, Jimmy Manguerra who trailed JC Montilla by eight strokes a week ago, reversed positions with JC because of Jimmy’s great performance last Sunday. He now leads JC by eight himself. Jojo Dizon jumped to third place tie with Mike Montilla with both thirty-three points behind the lead. Mar DeVeyra comfortably is in fifth place.

In the SPOY contest, we have a new leader emerging. Mar DeVeyra grabbed the lead relinquished by Seho Oh who shares second with Rey Plaza. Mar spots Rey & Seho by good two strokes. Bingoy Peña who led two weeks ago, was relegated to fourth followed by Joey Cruz in fifth.

Super Series next week. At the last count, seventeen players so far are entered in this contest with a possible nineteen at Royal Ontario at 2:00 o’clock PM. See you there.

Kaneff golf courses were all above average when it came to design to all of their venues compared to others with respect to green fee rates, but and this was a big but, why management fell in that category where you wished you would have never dealt with them in anyways at all at anytime? Two Sundays ago, we unexpectedly forced to play Legend course instead of the Masters course, at the last minute. It happened again at last Sunday’s round at Carlisle. There was a mixed up of what two nines we were going to play and a call back to us prior to that Sunday never happened in case of any changes. SGC members who showed up early were charged couple of dollars more for green fee when it actually was lesser than that as per previous booking. What was going on? I got a feeling that there was something missing with big organization like this one, and it was coming from the top down to the person cleaning the washrooms. Would you know what it was? Communication. It was a blooming pity to sacrifice those beautiful courses like those managed by people you wished with least desire to deal with. As paying customer, SGC was there to play, plain and simple and not expecting any surprises every time we played a Kaneff golf course.

Anyway, so much for harbouring discontentment and displeasure feelings. Who were the victors at last week’s event? We are past halfway of our great summer past time and this is the best time to think about being a contender or a pretender with so many accolades at stake.

A crafty senior veteran member just performed the best round of the day. And not by any stretch he was thinking of just being lucky. Mar DeVeyra with a spectacular net 63 pulled away from everybody winning the day prize. There is plenty of meat on this bone, mind you. Just a figure of speech, folks.

Nassau corners: Who else but Mar DeVeyra with a superb Sunday performance grabbed the total net as well as the front nine. Ron Wilson who won few prizes a week ago, seized the back nine. Now that was a persevering habit, wasn’t it? Just another day at the office.

There was no closest to the pin contest as there was no time preparing for this contest.

SPOY: We have a new senior leader going to round fourteen. Seho Oh upon completion of his twelfth game, now leads Bingoy Peña by eight points. Rey Plaza sits in third place two points behind second place while Mar Deveyra climbing up to fourth place two points behind Rey.

POY: No changes here going to the fourteenth game of the year, but JC Montilla gained a stroke to add to his seven point lead a week ago on Jimmy Manguerra. Jimmy is now behind eight points. Mike Montilla still lagging behind in third, twenty-three points behind the leader followed by Jojo Dizon in fourth place and Bingoy Peña in fifth. Two more rounds to make the magic number fifteen with twelve games to go. Lots of time folks.

SGC would like to acknowledge the hardest working three people week in and week out for now – Jojo Dizon, Bingoy Peña & Joey Cruz. You absolutely know what they do to keep our event running smoothly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: A word of advice from SGC prez to those who do not confirm but still show up to play or vice versa: Please be considerate. You are getting problematic to those people who are arranging the pairing list most especially when the golf course management asks for SGC’s lineup in advance. Thank you.

Food for thought: Did you never think that every time SGC played Lionhead golf course, we could not help it but expected a wicked crescendo stunt before we teed off? It happened again last Sunday. Lionhead management according to them, had a mixed up with their scheduling. So instead of playing the Masters course we were transferred to play the other course, the Legend course. It was frustrating to twenty-three players plus one guest when we were told about the switch since we were prepared to play the Masters. No question, Legend course was a lot harder than the Masters but we were faced with a huge turn around we never expected – from bad to worse. If I still remembered correctly when we played here last year, we were relegated down to two-hour wait of our start time. The irony to it all, we have something to think about playing this course again next year, right members?

As anticipated playing this venue unexpectedly was a struggle for most as indicated by high scoring. So, who were the weekend winners?

This member who does not play regularly, has a knack of performing his best when conditions are not so ideal. Ron Wilson who won here four weeks ago, captured the day prize with an astonishingly higher net of 71 that nobody else could beat. As if he was saying, “You guys don’t want it, then I’ll take it.” There was no onslaught of net scoring in the high 60s this time. No one broke net 70, not surprisingly.

Nassau corners: Ron Wilson seized unwillingly the back nine and the total net, why of course?. JC Montilla won the lowest net at the front nine.

Closest to the pin: Hey now, when you’re hot, you’re hot. Ron Wilson took the fourth hole while nobody could get closer than Seho Oh’s shot at the seventeenth hole.

Major updates:

SPOY: Twelve games were in. This is the number required to win this contest and we have a new leader. Bingoy Peña leads Rey Plaza by three points. With thirteen more games to go, those who have six or less games to make the number (12), there is still huge chance of catching the leaders for sure. Never give up.

POY: A long way to go here but JC Montilla increased his lead from six points to seven points over Jimmy Manguerra. Mike Montilla remains in third place, twenty-three whopping points behind the leader while Jojo Dizon sits in fifth place seven points behind Mike. Fifteen games are the required magic number here folks.

Announcement: Please come to Carlise this Sunday before 1 PM. This is a shot gun start. The round will start without you if you come late.

There is someone among us needs a major surgery and will be off for almost three weeks to rest and recover. We pray for his successful recovery.

Well, well, well. With scorching heat at 34 degrees Celsius, which was a little bit over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, twenty-one players showed up and played Royal Ontario golf course last Sunday. Surprisingly, few players rarely complained about the searing heat as it was not so bad with minor windy presence as we went about our rounds. None of the players I recalled walked the course though as it turned out it was a good idea. Indeed.

Equaling the lowest round of the week, the effervescent Fred Halili sat at 65 net score alongside the hard-hitting Jess Velarde. They shared the honors of taking the day prize. Remarkably enough, this was the very first for both gentlemen. More coming from both members, don’t you think so? This was the sixth time in eleven games that two players tied for the day prize.

Nassau corners: With Jess Velarde having one of Sunday’s top rounds with net score of 65, he seized the total net score as well as grabbing the front nine. It did not turn out a very good day for Jess after all as he lost his expensive yardage range finder he left in the power cart when he made the switch. The back nine belonged to both Sennix Bontigao and JC Montilla.

Closest to the pin went to Jimmy Manguerra on the longest par 3 seventeenth hole.

We are almost hallway to our golf season with fourteen games unaccounted for. So far with eleven games in the books, our POY leader still hanging in there.  JC Montilla leads Jimmy Manguerra by the slimmest of margin of six strokes. Climbing up in third place is Mike Montilla eighteen points behind the leader while Bingoy Peña and Rey Plaza share fourth place followed closely by Jojo Dizon in sixth place a mere stroke behind those two.

In the SPOY division, Bingoy Peña together with Rey Plaza now co-lead with a total net score of 838. Joey Cruz sits in third place ten points behind while Mar DeVeyra comfortably taking fourth. If you only count ten games, Seho OH leads everybody which is a very secured spot so far.

It was a futile request for us to use the club house for a quenching round of cold drinks after the round simply because there was a wedding reception going on. No golfers were allowed to enter the reception area.