Diver of lost ‘dreams’ — For every missed green, there’s a retriever who gets P6 per ball
‘The most I got in a single diving session was six dozens.’
Photograph by Marc Anthony Reyes for the daily tribune THIS is the dreaded Hole No. 10 of Intramuros where balls — most likely — end in watery grave.
Staring at you is the full expanse of a lagoon guarding the green. What's the first thing you'd do?
Look for the oldest, ugliest ball in your pocket, of course. You don't risk a freshly unboxed ProV1x. Not even after a few bottles of beer.
Yet Rudy "Amboy" Olbinado kept on finding those precious brands, along with Srixons and Honmas, when he dives, once a week, the lagoons of the Intramuros Golf Club.
Now just because the golf course was built around the historic Walled City of Manila doesn't mean Olbinado would be fishing out war artifacts.
No Japanese soldier helmets, no human bones, no jewelries either. But plenty of broken clubs.
Well, that figures. Given the frustration of missing the island green No. 10 and seeing your ball sink in a watery grave.
"What we do is bring the retrieved balls in the office where they will be used as driving range balls. Some of them will be sold in the pro shop," Olbinado told the Tribune Golf in Filipino.
He is first and foremost a groundskeeper in the course, working there since 1991, taking care of the greens and the fairways (specifically the landing areas).
But the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority — which runs the golf course — allows them to earn extra by diving for errant balls.
That slow Sunday afternoon, there were three of them diving the 10th. There are two other groups assigned to mine the waters on different days of the week.
