Ahhhhhh…….dog days of summer. What would be the ideal thing to do in this kind of weather on a Sunday afternoon? Most people would be lounging in a chair holding a cold drink with one hand and spatula on the other while doing a barbeque in the sanctity of their own backyards. A few of us after a gruelling workweek, Sunday could not come soon enough. We would be somewhere out there trying to relax and get ourselves playing a round of golf. Yes indeed. Royal Woodbine golf course welcomed twenty-six players who sweated it out in a thirty-two degree Celsius temperature with a humidex reading of thirty-five. Oh boy was it scorching hot and muggy. How hot really was it? It was so hot that eight players comparably like the weather itself turned in sizzling net scores in the sixties. In golf mind you, there was no telling what it felt like carrying out a blazing feat like this. Well done members.

Let us start who did what yesterday. Amazingly enough these were the above eight mentioned players who closed out their respective rounds in the net sixties: (67) JC M., (68s) Lina M., Seho O., Ricky R., (69s) Paulo B., Manny C., & Rene Q. One more player who got the best of them to follow.

It’s worth remembering that golfers peak at different times. A low net score of 68 last week at Westview, Bingoy Peña did a compelling performance of duplicating his exploit last week but this time a lot better. He seared the course for a low net score of 64, three shots cleared of second place and consequently winning himself the day’s best prize. This one obviously served him as prime candidate by far for seizing Month 4 honours that would conclude in a three week time

Nassau corners: We got the two M’s in a sweep of this contest. JC M. proudly winning the front nine and overall; while Mike M. on odd occasion of joining this particular contest or any other side contest for that matter snatched the back nine.

 

Sharp shooters brigade: Bong M. – hole 4; Jimmy M. – hole 7; Jun P. – hole 10; Sennix B. – hole 14.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to the winners. Thanks for the round of drinks.

Announcement: This is regarding a slight change in the SGC’s local rules where it reads “Any error or omission on the scorecard will result in the disqualification of the player concerned.” What it means to explain to one of the errors that may happen: A player submitting a signed scorecard with a total gross score that does not match the actual gross score of that player faces a round disqualification. Example: A player’s actual gross score is 90 but signed for an 89 or 91 is disqualified. No need to change the wording on this rule. This is in effect starting next week, August 23, 2015 until the end of the season.

Please be prepared for a mandatory “Blind corner” contest this Sunday at Kingsforest as requested by popular demand.

Happy retirement to Renato Macapagal. Enjoy. Thanks for the food and a round of drinks.

SGC acknowledges the return of Julio Rodriguez. Welcome back.

Closest to the pin contest:

Hole 5:   Rene Q.

Hole 7:   Seho O.

Hole 11:  Manny C.

Hole 17:   Bong M.

Nassau:

Front & overall: Bert C.

Back: (Tie) Bingoy P., Jimmy M., & Lina M.

Super Series:

1. Bert C. 2. Paolo B. 3. Jimmy M. 4. Seho O.

Monthly:

1. Mike M.

2. Manny C.

3. Jojo D.

Congratulations to all winners.

 

A dry pattern with seasonable high temperatures hovering around 32 degrees Celsius allowed the course to play true. Winds were forecasted to be light. True as well. Twenty-five players plus two guests absorbed the searing heat with toasted dry fairways and faster green making almost every player a power hitter because of the unbelievably ball roll last Sunday at Royal Woodbine. Adjustment and control of shots that most sharp players displayed week in and week out in whatever the golf course condition offered, always got them up there somewhere in the leaderboard. Wouldn’t you call this process course management? We thought so. Most players that showed up for this sauna like circumstance got something to show for. That was the good news. The bad news……someone had to lose no matter what.

Sunday’s who’s who: Four players got it going Sunday……they all turned in net scores in the 60s – Ed P. (67), Rene Q (68), Joey C. (69) and not to be outdone of course is SGC’s defending POY, Jojo Dizon. A quiet early season for Jojo D. until now which earned him the day’s prize by shooting a whopping low net of 65. That was quite a noise he made with this kind of performance. It was so loud that it reverberated through the closing ceremonies of the Pan Am games! Even Kanye West wondered where it came from that out staged him for a moment.

Nassau contest: Front nine went to Ed P. This is a banner year for Ed who is constantly getting up there. He is already considered a lock with winning the Senior POY. Coming from the abyss as far as joining this contest was concerned, Manny C. got the back nine. Guess who won the overall? Jojo D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharp shooting contest:

Hole 4:   Manny Chea   Hole 7:   Ron Wilson  Hole 10: Ed Ilao   Hole 15: Mar DeVeyra

 

 

 

 

 

 

An extra prize deservingly went to Jimmy M. for firing an eagle on par five hole number nine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better day is coming. It is called Sunday. Next Sunday folks. Why? End of the month with so much at stake – day prize, monthly, & Super Series. For those who have not joined Super Series, it is not too late. You can still make Super Series entry for this Sunday at Royal Ontario. Please be reminded that prizes are handed out to Super Series winners after the round right away. Rumour mill tells us that we might have seen the last of this golf course because of the way this golf course management treats SGC and on top of that the pricey green fee they charge us this year.

SGC is glad to see familiar faces playing with us again last Sunday – Paul Honoridez & Julio Rodriguez.

Congratulations to all winners.

It was in an article written by one of the golf gurus that there’s no better sport for bringing people together with its winning combination of exercise, personal challenges, competition and social interaction, than golf. It was stated also in that article that golf is the perfect tonic for good health and happiness. In Canada according to the latest survey of comparison of all sport, golf is the most participated sport by far. It’s a game for all ages and abilities. Plus its unique handicapping system allows people of different abilities to play and compete together.

Yesterday’s conditions: Sauna like temperature at thirty degrees Celsius at last Sunday’s round at Kingsforest golf course proved to be a bit bothersome for twenty-four players. Muggy atmosphere with pooled humidex of 40. (The humidex -short for “humidity index” – is an index number used by Canadian meteorologists to describe how hot the weather feels to the average person, by combining the effect of heat and humidity.) With only one SGC group finishing the round, there was a weather interruption of play because of threat of lightning and thunder storm. An hour after when everything cleared players were allowed to resume play and finished their respective rounds.

The Round: At times players would blitz a golf course and post good scores. Not this time. Indicative high scores turned in by most players, Kingsforest never stopped to surprise us every time SGC came here to play. Ed Peñas who fired the lowest gross score – aside from Manny C. – did not take long enough time to get back to the winning track by winning the day’s prize with a net score of 71. Ed P. who racked up multiple victories already in this young season is in good position for holding on to the Senior POY lead ‘til the end of the season. Who knows, POY is not too farfetched either.

Blind partner contest: Most members considered this particular contest as the most rousing competition. You got no control of who you’d partner but to score low for yourself and hope for the best. Called it stroke of luck, called it sheer blessing, or called it anything you wanted but the lowest total net score of this duo proved to be the ‘catch of the day’. This tandem of Mar DV. & Lina M. got the windfall of coincidentally selecting each other from the draw and went on to snatch the first prize unpredictably with a combined net score of 149. A distant score of 157 by Nap P. & Bert C. got them the second prize. Losing by a hair with net score of 158 to second place was the partnership of Bingoy P. & Seho O. who grabbed third place.

 

Lina M.

 

 

 

 

 

Nassau contest: Here he was again; Ed P. overwhelmed the field winning the back nine as well as the overall. He was graceful enough to let Bingoy P. win the front nine.

 Sharp shooting contest: Hole 5th – Dave N.;  Hole 7th – Rey P.;  Hole 14th – Mar DV.;  Hole 17^th – Ed I.

 

Ed I.

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to SGC for the round of drinks and dinner.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Jimmy M. is away so confirm your attendance for this Sunday at Royal Woodbine to Joey C. or use our web site. Deadline is this Wednesday. RW is a little fuzzy about no-show players.

Picture perfect scenario last Sunday at Maples of Ballantrae golf course – weather wise. With twenty-nine degrees Celsius temperature, twenty-two players couldn’t agree more. Atmosphere conditions were picturesquely ideal, all we had to do was get the low scores everyone was looking for. But when you thought that everything was going your way, at the end of a round there was always this someone who startlingly outshone you. That was golf, folks. What mattered most was how you strongly finished and felt good about it. A lot of regulars were missing in action due to previous commitment to other golf tournament happening at the very same time.

Sunday’s banter: Could this be a strong statement for Mike Montilla who was coming off a mediocre game last season? Well, it was now a distant memory. The question was what kind of season was shaping up for Mike M.? By turning in a net of 66, Mike got the day’s prize again. Yes, again – two weeks in a row for him. I bet you he was liking the direction he was headed. He now leads the POY race by significantly huge margin of seven strokes. Good news for other contending players as we still have thirteen games not accounted for. Bad news – cancelations will be a big factor working in favor of those who are in the top five.

Nassau contest: Manny M. with his enormously wide arc swing helped him won his front nine. A photo finish for four people who tied up for winning the back nine – Ross B., Sennix B., Jojo D, and Ed P. Everyone was outduelled by Sennix B. by seizing the overall score.

Ross B.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closest to the pin: A new ruling on this contest was decided by SGC. If at whatever reason that one of the two par 3s is not won, prize goes to the player who shoots it closest to the other designated par 3. Anyway we had winners for both holes – Dave N. on hole number six; Sennix B. on hole number ten.

An exemption or a free entry for this Sunday’s Super Series for two people: Sam K. & Sennix B.

Congratulations to all winners. Thanks for the round of drinks.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Mandatory “Blind partner” contest for all members playing for this Sunday at Kingsforest. SGC provides a light dinner after the round. Drinks not included.

Beautiful weather at long last at Westview golf course last Sunday that greeted twenty-six players with the sun shining brightly at twenty-five degrees Celsius. Not even a hint of rain for that entire week. Hopefully this kind of treatment from Mother Nature would last for the rest of the season. I could smell from around the corner of having luck bestowed upon the few of us in the upcoming ‘blind partner’ contest in about two weeks from now. SGC would like to remind everyone that this would be a mandatory contest to all players.

Sunday’s round babble: Someone was really coming to form lately. Mike Montilla with his newly built confidence turned in a net score of 66 winning the day’s lowest net score.  He was also mounting a startling charge in the POY race, two mere strokes behind the leader, Jimmy M. This ’15 season just got a lot more interesting as a number of players were making noise and displaying splendid performances. And October couldn’t arrive soon enough. It came with the territory of trying to gain a foothold of this prestigious award.

Nassau contest: It was about time to hear from someone else getting on the winning podium other than the previous constant frontrunners from aforementioned weeks. Bong M. with his day/night competitive aura, seized the front nine as well as the overall. Incidentally luck, wit and mystic got JC M. on the winning side again – this was his second time of winning something through disqualification. He snatched the back nine. Rub of the green, I might add?

Closest to the pin contest: This was somewhat weird. One of two par 3s, hole number five on Lakeland course was won by Bong M. The other hole, number four on Middle course was never contested – surprisingly none of the contesting players whatsoever got on the green. This was the second time in as many weeks that only one par 3 was ever won. Heard mumblings from certain players hitting from the blue tees of losing accuracy in their shots as most of the par 3s were 200 yards or more.

Congratulations to the winners. Thanks for the round of drinks.

Terrible weather conditions at Royal Woodbine last Sunday. In so many words to describe it, it was rain, rain, rain, nothing but rain. At some period of time, nineteen players plus two guests got reprieved by an intermittent rain but left the course with soggy and slushy conditions all throughout the round. Irritating convenience of putting raincoat on and taking it off, water dripping down your face while preparing for a shot, wet gloves, equipment and clothing; it was nearly a total wash-out. One good thing that came about yesterday was SGC had the entire golf course to ourselves. No one else was there – smart people huh? Also not to mention because of the poor weather conditions, SGC had already implemented ‘lift, clean and place’ for the players during the round. Softer greens meant to go after pins more aggressively, but it required to alter club selection by choosing more club to get more carry.

Sunday’s chatter: It was obviously a big day regardless of the unkind weather. End of the month – so much at stake – most especially to the Super Series players. They all showed up didn’t they? The bigger issue was soft conditions that had allowed for very little roll, making the course a haven for big hitters, and a monster for those who were not. Even though the rain created havoc during the round, it didn’t bother most players. As a matter of fact, a few replied with plenty of fine golf. So in tough, wet conditions at Royal Woodbine, two players grinded out a remarkable gross score of one over par 72. Manny Chea and Jimmy Manguerra both scored the astonishing feat last Sunday. Due to handicap differential, Manny C. grabbed the day’s lowest net prize. More news of these two lads later on this page.

It was decided that prizes to Super Series were to be handed out right after the round to due winners unlike the previous years where it was given at awards night. So who grabbed the prizes at stake yesterday? Here we go:

Super Series: Two Super Series in a row for Jimmy M. He now won SS 1 & 2. He also leads the race to POY this year. With a consistent good performance of late, this must be the year, right Jimmy? A long way to go yet chided those players in pursuit. Surprisingly, three players got to tie for second place – Paolo B., Manny M. and Ed P. I still picture ‘til now the bright smiling faces of these winners.

Nassau corners: Jimmy M. cornered the front nine and overall while Bingoy P. tied Joey C. to grab the back nine.

Closest to the pin: Unfortunately because of the confusion only one par 3 hole was contested. Manny C. got it the closest on hole number seven, Mind you, Manny also shot an eagle on hole number nine.

Month 2 winners: Rene Q. who was leading all the way for the month of June, showed up at the golf course but did not play at all. Rene must knew something we did not. He was caught by JC M. to tie for the monthly honours. Mike M. got enough gusto to snatch third place. If you heed anything with consistent good golf, these two M brothers are climbing up the POY leaderboard.

 

Congratulations to all winners.

Twenty-eight players including one promising new member got the thrills to play last Sunday at Royal Ontario golf course because of getting a break from the weather, finally. The weather men forecasted a day or two earlier of rain and thunderstorm all day. Never happened. They could be wrong at times and their noses getting longer every time they gave a weather forecast and the opposite happened.  At twenty-five degrees Celsius, it was kind of muggy and very humid. We could not complain. We’d take this kind of weather phenomena any day of the week…..er every Sunday. That was sure funny when you looked at the weekly weather forecast for the past month showing every day with sun coming out and no sign of precipitation except, yes except Sunday.

Sunday’s golf banter: SGC got this golf course eaten alive by its members as indicated by low scores turned in by the players. How could I say that? It was haunting though for I knew some of the players who could not get it going on this golf course had for sure shown us yesterday as if they were playing on the final day Sunday at the US Open. One memorable score simply aghast the membership when someone carded a net of 62. Dave Nelson who skipped the GTAA Interleague Tournament a Sunday ago outfoxed the field with that low net tally. SGC could have used that kind of scoring at the GTAA event, could we not? Dave N. is considered one of those who possessed the sweetest golf swings we have ever seen. Nicely done.

 

It was deliberated yesterday that it was a Korean Sunday. Sam K. convincingly took the Nassau front while Seho O. with that magic drink of his, captured the back nine. Not to be outdone ReyMac got the overall.

In the sharpshooting contest, again it was Sam K. got his mojo going by firing the closest to the pin on hole 8. Joey C. who also was the first one to be closest to hole 8 but got beaten by Sam, won the par 3 eleventh.

Bring your A-game next week as it is Super Series Sunday and the culmination of race to month two. Good luck to all.

 

 

 

Congratulations to the winners. Thanks for the round of drinks.

Visit our Lighten up your day section and check the joke of the week. SGC encourages its members to check and learn the process of calculating golf handicaps. Please check the front page to access it.

2015 GTAA Interleague Tournament at Bethesda Grange Golf Course – over and done with. Players came and went – 137 of them last Sunday. First of all in behalf of SGC (Sierra Golf Club) members, a heartfelt congratulations to SOGA for winning the solid team championship. Extra appreciation to PHILCAN for hosting this year’s event. We all knew how hard it was to organize a participated sporting event like this one most especially without the cooperation of Mother Nature. SGC would like to thank PHILCAN President Junn Siao as well as his members for a job well done.

PROS & CONS at yesterday’s event: PROS – PHILCAN’s determination to continue to get going with this event that was plagued with rain all day. It was really pouring out there even before the shotgun start went underway but the downpour slowed down a bit throughout the round.  Mostly thought that this bad weather might cause a cancellation of this event and a re-schedule was in the offing but most of these probabilities were considered improbable. CONS – a number of different club members who did not bother lingering around until the ceremony was over. A slap in the face to a hosting club. Every participating player knew that this kind of event which happened only once a year was an all-day affair……or more. So please, spare us the excuses. Gone were the days of mutual respect and sportsmanship, you’d think?

SGC’s worthwhile effort to compete at last Sunday’s event was a tad fruitful after all. SGC was proud to thank majority of the members who showed up and supported this event. Golf as we all knew was not easy to compete as a team. So we looked at this on a different light – as an individual sport like as always. SGC bragged about the performance of two members who according to Junn Siao was the “best of the best” during the award ceremony as   he referred to the best gross score by a player. Jimmy Manguerra who posted an impressive gross round score of 77 romped away as the best player in the field. Guess who secured the second best gross? Our very own Rene Querubin who carded gross score of 80. Yes folks, these two SGC members provided the best one-two punch for the day’s event.

Other SGC individual winners: Rene Q. – Nassau overall net (67) score of class A;  Paolo B. – Nassau net (30) back corner of class A; Eddie I. – longest drive.

Ed I.

 

Congratulations to all winners. ‘Til then, see you next year.

Twenty-seven players couldn’t be wrong when they said that playing golf last Sunday at Maples of Ballantrae was almost ideal weather. Mother nature treated them with twenty-one degrees Celsius  temps – not so cold, not so hot. The golf course itself was another story though. Cement liked bunkers and most of the greens were jumpy with bald spot conditions. A cold front sweeping late afternoon start was no bothersome either as golfers always expected the weather to turn things around at any given time. I heard one of the players telling another player  “Stop complaining. Avoid hitting your ball to those bunkers. That’s all”. To tell you the truth, no one cared that much of the temperature & course conditions as everyone was raring to go after being futile a week ago due to a round cancellation at flooded Royal Woodbine golf course.

Sunday’s banter: It never failed that there was always someone who would make the best of the worst conditions and would get the last laugh. This time another Montilla topped Sunday’s tournament by carding a net score of 72. A younger J.C. Montilla following his big brother’s win two weeks ago staged a top prize for himself by winning the day’s award. JC M. must be feeling good as indicated by his net score that this golf course was surprisingly as pressing.

Nassau corners: A newly free from work obligations Rey P. as a retiree, took the front nine as well as tying Ricky R. for the overall. Coming from the abyss was Eddie I. who grabbed the back nine.

 

 

 

 

Closest to the pin: The ever consistent Ed P. seized hole number six as Seho O. who was aided by a ‘wonder liquid’ that he drank got the tenth hole.

 

 

 

 

Manny C. who regularly winning something like closest to the pin, shot an eagle on par five hole eleventh.

Sierra Minutes: SGC welcomes our newest member, Ron Wilson. A recruit by our 2010 POY champ, Paolo B.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Participating members in the coming GTAA Interleague golf tournament this Sunday are encouraged to arrive earlier than usual for registration purposes and for a quick huddle regarding SGC’s hosting this very same event next year. SGC wishes to thank members for supporting this event. Good luck and have fun.