Philippine Independence Golf 2014

By: Maria Girlie Pascual

The Philippine Independence Day Tournament ( PIDT) is the longest running Filipino hosted golf event in the history of the Chicago Fil- Am community, faithfully attended by the majority of the golfing native sons that pay homage to the Motherland through the sport they all love. This year’s tournament was held at the popular Hilton Indian Lakes resort in Bloomingdale, Illinois, hosted by the Philippine Golf Club of Chicago or PGC, under the mentorship of its founder, Mr. Bert Roman, who is also coincidentally one of the architects of the PIDT from way back 30 years ago, if Mr. Roman’s memory serves him right. A man of few words, Bert is very protective of the PIDT, stressing that the whole goal of the PIDT is for the participants to play and enjoy golfing to honor our Philippine Independence, nothing more, nothing less. With this simple theme, PIDT has survived political changes here and back home, and has weathered egos, different league leaders, even the typical Filipino mindset of trying to bend rules to suit their needs. Bert has remained steadfast in his commitment to the PIDT mission, and has guided all hosting leagues by way of conforming to USGA rules, verifiable handicaps, and a fair standard that everyone can adhere to. With that in mind, 219 golfers from the different leagues participated in, and enjoyed the weather, the sport, but most of all, the company of other golf aficionados. Our thanks to the PGC for hosting this year’s event, and congratulations to the PGC officers and members led by PGC President Archie Castillo, for a job well done. The 2014 results are as follows:

First Place Team Competition—PGC

Second Place Team Competition—Fil-AmLake County Golfers

Third Place Team Competition –Asian American Golfers of Illinois (AAGI)

Please refer to the PGC website for all other individual winners. The other participating leagues included: Filipino League of Golfers (FLOG), MAGIC, Phil-AM Eagles Philippine Senior Golfers Association (PSGA), PHILSWING, Senior Golfers of Illinois (SGI), Tamaraw League

Again, PIDT hopes to continue being the standard in fair and friendly competition, and the different hosting leagues always try their best to accommodate suggestions, requests, questions and situations. In the end, it is still a game of honor, and hopefully, coupled with true sportsmanship, a tournament that will be able to continue on indefinitely for as long as we can all “play nice”. MABUHAY!