TODAY, Cebu golf teams seek glory as the 76th PAL Interclub Tournament kicks off in Bacolod. Cebu Country Club will defend its Founders crown while Alta Vista, Liloan Golf, and Club Filipino aim to recreate victories they earned two years ago.
The Sportswriters Division was where the Danao-based Club Filipino dominated in 2023. While the unfamiliar may excusably assume that the players there are scribes, such is not the case. The division simply honors those who have covered the tournament since the early days.
The storytellers who write about this longest running and biggest team golf tournament in the world are the ones who give it life and color. On the local level, the contributions of Cebu’s sportswriters cannot be understated.
While the national broadsheets were mostly covering the premiere Championship Division, Nimrod Quinoñes was perfecting the template of Cebu community newspaper coverage focused on the local teams plying the lower divisions. It was a template kept by his media peers including Mike Limpag, Jonas Panerio, Richiel Chavez, Rick Gabuya, and Jobannie Tabada, among others.
This gave added motivation for the Cebu teams to perform well in hopes that their names would come out in the local dailies the following day. There was also the perchance that their photos taken by the likes of Tonee Despojo, Ruel Rosello, Arnie Aclao, Iste Sesante, or even Nimrod himself could be published so this added another layer of motivation.
Many Cebuano golfers not otherwise playing the Interclub would read the local papers to monitor their home clubs’ performances. Others used the coverage to drive them to level up their golf games so they can qualify for their Interclub teams and perhaps be featured someday in the Cebu sports pages. This domino-effect improved the collective level of play of the entire Cebuano golfing community. The Cebu teams then started earning wins and podium finishes.
The winningest of them all was the team I played for - Cebu Country Club. In a 9-year stretch culminating in 2009, CCC won the second-tier Founders Division seven times, including two three-peats. This dominance elevated CCC to the premiere Championship Division.
Having already had the experience of the local media scrutiny and coverage, there was no longer any stage fright when CCC were thrust into the biggest stage and now swarmed by the national press. The club went on to win three times in the Championship Division. Despite this expanded media attention, CCC was always mindful of their roots and gave the best interviews and most access to the Cebu press who in turn churned out the best coverage stories during that championship run.
This year, I did not qualify for any Cebu team ending my competitive streak of 20 straight Interclubs. Thankfully, Philippine Airlines invited me to join the media tournament, perhaps mindful of my roles as both a VoxPop Cebu golf contributor and long-time Inquirer Golf Magazine columnist where I always devoted column space to write about the Interclub every year.
Thus, I experienced the unparalleled hospitality Philippine Airlines affords the media in the tournament. This organization genuinely values the chroniclers of its storied history and deservedly so. As a first-hand witness who competed and played for many a winning team, I can unequivocally say that Cebu’s sportswriters, through their coverage, elevated the standard of play of the Cebu teams. This resulted in many memorable victories that added to the Interclub lore. And this week, the Cebu teams will be out to add even more.
