GROWING CLAMOR

There’s a growing unrest quietly simmering within the local golf community.

With Dottie Ardina failing to don the proper competition uniform during the Paris Olympics, Filipino golfers are up in arms, strongly demanding for reforms in the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP).

Mike Besa, the newly-appointed director of the Dakak Golf Club, is at the heart of this resistance, saying that the “Tapal-gate” issue should serve as springboard for the federation to clean its house and institute key changes for the sake of its stakeholders, especially the Filipino golfers.

A well-respected online golf journalist, Besa bared that NGAP, with secretary general Bones Floro running its day-to-day operations as secretary general, had done nothing to grow the game and serve the growing golf community.

In fact, the federation did nothing to revive the Philippine Golf Open, which was branded as Asia’s longest-running golf tournament before it was shelved in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Members of the NGAP board also overstayed their respective positions by more than a year. They only held their elections last April with incumbent president Martin Lorenzo bagging a seat in the board of directors, paving the way for his election as federation chief to a third and final term.

But the elections didn’t go smoothly.

Lorenzo’s group faced strong opposition from the group of former Pampanga Congressman Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, who has been actively supporting the Junior Golf Federation of the Philippines.

When Lorenzo’s group knew that the son of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo already had the numbers, it released a new form in which the clubs’ proxies must be printed on and disqualify those who will not comply.

‘I have no quarrel with any from the NGAP personally. But what’s happening is already fundamentally wrong.’

More than 30 clubs’ proxies were disqualified from joining the electoral process, allowing Lorenzo to post 78 votes while Arroyo had only 27.

Prior to the elections, NGAP also arbitrarily replaced its service provider for its handicapping system despite reportedly not paying the company, Silicon Computer and Telecoms Inc., for the past few years of its services.

With no backup for the handicapping system, the golf community was thrown into chaos and golf tournaments around the country were greatly affected.

Besa said the “incompetence” of the people running the federation has to stop.

“What a new level of incompetence are we prepared to put up with before we say ENOUGH?” Besa, who founded the biggest online golf communities in the country Play It Right and PINOYGOLFER, said.

Besa, however, clarified that he is not out to pick up a fight, especially with Floro and those who are running the country’s golf federation.

He said he just simply wants the voices of ordinary Filipino golfers to be heard in the wake of the controversy that left Ardina embarrassed before athletes from other countries in the biggest and most prestigious sports conclave in the world.

“The reason I’ve taken the stand is because what had transpired is contrary to the principles we espouse and detrimental to the game,” Besa said.

“I have no quarrel with anyone from the NGAP personally. But what’s happening is already fundamentally wrong.”