Cassius Casas, once a party animal at the height of his career, passed away in the emergency room of Davao Doctors Hospital in Davao City on Monday, with his sister Angie by his side.

Known for his carefree lifestyle and impressive skills on the course, Casas spent his final days with Angie, his older sister, who had fetched him from a quaint fishing village in Davao Oriental just last week.

The golf legend died just 12 days before his 58th birthday.

“I told him he should celebrate his birthday with us because he needed to rest and get stronger first,” Angie recalled, her voice breaking.

Angie said Casas had been struggling with a persistent cough that wouldn’t go away, despite taking medication for a week. Eventually, Casas asked Angie to bring him to Davao City. It was two Sundays ago.

Angie, along with her son, took a provincial bus for the five-hour journey, then used Casas’ multicab for the drive back home.

“I took care of him, massaged his back whenever he had trouble breathing. His appetite was okay,” Angie remembered.

Last Wednesday, Angie took Cassius to a doctor, who ordered several tests. While the lab results came back negative, the doctor found that his heart function was low. The following day, the doctor referred Cassius to a cardiologist.

Unfortunately, the cardiologist was unavailable, and they were advised to return on Monday. He was 21st on the waiting list.

Casas could not wait. At 10 p.m. on Sunday, he asked to be brought to the hospital.

They first went to a hospital nearby but were told it did not have the facilities to handle Cassius’ case. So, they proceeded to Davao Doctors Hospital where Cassius expired even before he was wheeled into the intensive care unit.

Casas earned an estimated P50 million in his career, built on 71 titles, including the Philippine Open and three other international tournaments.

He is best remembered for playing one-on-one with the legendary Tiger Woods at Mimosa golf course in Clark, Angeles in 1998.

As he aged, his skills also declined. He earned a measly P615,262 in 2016 and P225,123 in 2017 while playing on the local tour.

Four years ago, the night before a tournament at Luisita Golf Club in Tarlac, he felt severe chest pain. His 28-year-old partner rushed him to a nearby hospital in Carmona, and soon after, he was transferred to the Philippine Heart Center for emergency surgery.

Doctors said he was lucky to survive after spending 30 days in the hospital.

His month-long hospital stay cost P1.8 million. He sold his Davao City home, retired to his partner’s hometown, and built a new house.

Tending to a small sari-sari store while occasionally joining his fisherman friends, Casas had harbored a return to golf, dreaming of a role as a national coach. His plea fell on deaf ears.

Casas was never married, according to Angie. He had six children from two women and was living with a woman half his age before his untimely death.

In his final days, his sister was forced to scrounge for money just to pay the P61,000 hospital bill, a heartbreaking reminder of how far Casas had fallen from the heights of his once-thriving career.