Memories, legends, and the PAL Interclub

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Philippine Airlines Interclub. Back in 1987 in Cebu City, as a greenhorn sportswriter on my first golf assignment, I discovered how much fun this game could be.

Naïvely, I even brought a tennis racket, thinking I might sneak in a match or two. But once I picked up a golf club and felt the swing, that racket was abandoned for good. From that moment on, I was hooked — not just on covering the game, but on playing it too. Little did I know that a simple assignment would spark a lifelong love affair with golf.

I still remember my score — 142. Sounds more like basketball than golf. But nothing beats the thrill of draining a 20-foot putt… only to realize it was for a quadruple bogey.

Four decades later, not much has changed. I’m still a lousy golfer who keeps showing up for that one good shot. The hole-in-one is still a dream, and my swing is still a mystery.

Why all the reminiscing? Because the 77th PAL Interclub is just around the corner. If all goes to plan, I’ll be covering it for the 40th straight time — a milestone that somehow makes this lousy golfer feel a little legendary.

It isn’t just another tournament on the calendar — the PAL Interclub is the backbone of Philippine club golf. Started in 1948, it has become the country’s oldest and most prestigious team championship, basically the unofficial national club title, and the one week every serious club marks in red.

For more than three-quarters of a century, it has welcomed everyone: seniors, regulars, scratch golfers, and even those just learning the ropes. The focus? Team depth, loyalty, and yes, a little individual brilliance, too.

There are no million-peso prizes. The real reward is bragging rights: seeing your club’s colors climb the leaderboard, raising a division flag at awards night, and feeling proud that your home course ranks among the country’s best. That simple idea has kept the Interclub alive and relevant, even as the rest of golf chases money and rankings.

Almost every top player has played in the Interclub. You name them — Miñoza, Pagunsan, Que, Tabuena, Silverio, Manotoc — once skinny kids grinding in lower flights before they became household names.

The Interclub teaches young talents how to prepare months in advance for one high-stakes week, how to play on unfamiliar courses — like Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, CDO, or Clark — under real tournament conditions, and how to handle a lineup that can include former national players, club legends, or even foreign-based balikbayans.

In other words, it’s been a quiet training ground for Philippine golf long before “pathways” became a buzzword.

Part of the Interclub’s magic is that it moves. Over the decades, it’s rotated through cities like Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Clark — each adding its own flavor.

In 2024, the 75th “diamond edition” took place at Pueblo de Oro in Cagayan de Oro and Del Monte Golf Club in Bukidnon, turning Northern Mindanao into a two-week golf village.

Every time the Interclub lands in a city, it acts like a mini tourism boom. Hundreds of players arrive with spouses, kids, friends, and guests. Teams camp on the host courses weeks before the event, then sneak in side trips to nearby layouts once play ends.

Hotels and restaurants plan around it — Cagayan de Oro, for instance, saw bookings spike as soon as dates were announced — and tourism officials now openly call the Interclub a driver of sports tourism.

In a landscape full of pro tours, corporate cups, and invitationals, the PAL Interclub is one of the few events that crosses generations and social circles. Corporate members share fairways with self-made single-digit handicappers, and seniors’ stories from the 1970s mix with juniors’ dreams for 2030.

In the end, its value comes down to four things: memory, development, community, and economy. It’s a thread from postwar golf to today, a proving ground where future pros learn teamwork, a club spirit strong enough to keep golfers grinding all year, and a traveling sports festival that quietly feeds hotels, restaurants and local tourism.

As long as those four hold, the PAL Interclub will be more than just another trophy. It will remain the yearly reminder that in Philippine golf, your club flag still matters — and so does the city that welcomes you for the week.