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Touching Base With the Brods on My Recent US Trip - Part 2
U.P. BETANS ALL at L.A. Royal Vista GC, March 7, 2004 Standing: Rolly Balingit '69, Gilbert Joven '66, Art Martin '69, Erwin Salud '82, Roy Antonio '77, Carling Taguinod '57. Kneeling: Norman Bituin '65, Tito de Santos '63, Ferdie Echiverri '67.
Hi Brods,
After 3 years, a lot of big events has happened in my life. The foremost one was losing my wife to the Big C in April 11, 2002. The rest are happy moments, like, my son Erwin graduating from the Culinary Institute of America ( CIA ), my daughter Mylah starting her medical residency at Lourdes Hospital, and my youngest son Mark graduating from college with an IT degree . But not to be missed is that I have managed to lower my golf handicap from 19 to 14. I'm still working hard to bring it down to a single-digit handicap.
My recent visit to the USA was more coincidental than planned. The Coffeemate Cluster Meeting organized by Nestle HO in Switzerland for key markets (The Philippines being no. 4 in the world on Coffeemate sales) was originally planned to be held in Bangkok, Thailand. But because of the dreaded Asian Bird Flu, it was decided to shift the meeting to the Nestle Center at Glendale, USA. When I heard of this good news my heart jumped three times out of excitement. I got excited not because of the meeting but because this was another opportunity to visit the US again and play golf with the brods.
As usual the great organizer for gathering the brods even on short notice is brodNorman Bituin, UPD'65. Upon informing him of my business trip to the USA, brod Norman wasted no time to organize a golf game with the brods. This time Norman moved their monthly tournament to coincide with my visit. This was perfect 'cause we had three flights at La Royal Vista GC on March 7, 2004.The brods who played golf that day were Art Martin, Roy Antonio, Erwin Salud, Norman Bituin, Rolly Balingit, Tito do Santos, Carling Taguinod, Ferdie Echiverri, and Gilbert Joven. The Ratbu friends who joined us were Gerry Gorospe, Bob Razon and Fred Zabala.
I finally caught up with brod Tito de Santos whom I have not seen for almost 33 years since I left UP Diliman. Brod Tito is the original "Mr. Suave " in the frat. And being Mr. Suave, you can imagine the number of UP gals who were simply lining up just to meet brod Tito. But brod Tito has chosen well his partner in life. A girl from Baguio, my birthplace, whose family is well known for owning the Plaza theatre, in front of Malcom Square. Tito's wife is Viching de la Rosa ( I hope I spelled her first name right Tito?) . Brod Tito has not changed much after all the years. He still smokes, keeps a lean body and a clean sense of humor. Still the Tito I know in 1967. Keep it up brod ! I'm sure you will live up to 90 and still see your great grandchildren.
BrodRolly Balingit was the best golfer that day. He scored only a 3 over par 75 ! Wow Rolly! You were awesome out there with your over 300yd drives and your impeccable putting. Rolly was so inspired, he treated us all to a good snack after the front nine.
After golf, we went to Norman's place where a nice buffet was waiting for us. Norman is tops when it comes to preparing food and offering his place for the brods. Meron pang crispy pata. How do you do it brod Norman? This must come from your constant practice of being a very hospitable host whenever a visiting brod drops by. Thanks brod, that was really great! Pagbisita mo sa Pinas, kami naman. BTW, brodDanny Galoso joined us at Norman's to enjoy the food and company.
After the get together at Norman's, my son Erwin picked me up for our drive back to San Diego where he lives. Erwin works as a Chef at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. This Inn has a nice golf course around it. Erwin has arranged for me to play golf at Rancho Bernardo on March 17, a day after my March 16 birthday. So I invited brod Rolly Balingit to join me. But Rolly wanted a bigger challenge! He wanted to play Torrey Pines. No doubt this is one of the best golf courses in San Diego fronting the Pacific Ocean. So we decided to play Torrey Pines, and Rolly wanted to play the more challenging South Course with it's 7607 yds of undulating terrain. Ang haba nito brod! Usually, we only play 7200 yd max dito so Pinas. Pero itong south course, pang Tiger Woods na ito. But Rolly is a big hitter so this south course is a good challenge for him, and for me too. We teed off at 7:45AM and finished at around 12:30PM. Rolly scored an 82 and I scored an 87. Not bad for me but for Rolly it's just plain OK. The highlight of my game is when I birdied hole no. 2 and parred no. 3. After these holes I was feeling like Tiger but, unlike him, I could not sustain it. One birdie and 5 pars, pwede na rin for a first-timer in Torrey Pines.
Rolly was OK at Torrey Pines. He had 10 pars and ended with 10 over, 82. That's Great Rolly. Pagdating mo dito for the PhilAm Golf tournament in December you will no doubt face bigger challenges, but you will win ! See you here in December, brod Rolly.
The weekend after 13 March, my son and I drove from San Diego to Napa Valley. On the way we passed by San Francisco where I met with brod Ding Cavestany in his mother's home. I have not seen Ding for almost 20 years and somehow the years have been kind to him even now that he is a grandpa. We had frequent parties in their house at Pasay during our UP Diliman days and I must say I enjoyed every minute of it. Ding also came a few times to Baguio and we enjoyed walking at Burnham Park with some Americans from Brent.
Incidentally while we were at Napa, I had a chat with Brod Willie Vergara who was having a small get-together with the brods at their house in Sacramento. Brods Locsin, Yay Topacio and some brods from Pangasinan were also there. I had a long chat with brod Locsin who was one of the big-time players at Silicon Valley during its boom. Brod Yay Topacio is also well settled with his family. That's great brods !
Before my night flight back to Manila I had lunch with Brod Boi Wico at Disneyland. We reminisced our good days at Diliman where we had nice parties at their house inside the campus. He brought me to his house at Orange County and I must say that Brod Boi has done well in the US. May mga apo na rin si Boi. Keep up the good health, tol.
I flew back to Manila on 19th March. For me " touching base with the brods " the second time around was a great experience. Looking forward to Part 3, brods.
Cheers!
Gilbert Joven UPD '66
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