PH Masters revival filled with nostalgia
Robert Pactolerin and Cassius Casas can’t help but turn nostalgic as they brace for the revival of the ICTSI Philippines Masters starting tomorrow at its home course at Villamor Golf Club.
They hope not only to turn back the hands of time but also turn back the young guns in this one particular tournament so dear to them for its lore and tradition.
“It’s nice to have the Masters back here at Villamor. It’s been a long time,” said Pactolerin, who has ruled this event many times over during his prime. “But times have changed, we have matured and a lot of young, talented players has emerged through the years.”
The Masters used to be one of local version’s four majors – the others being the Philippine Open, the President’s Cup and the National PGA – and its annual staging always drew huge
Maxine Esteban is a young girl in a hurry.
She wants to become an Olympic champion, a sports philanthropist, a violin player, and a race car driver.
First on her list, however, is to become an Olympic gold medalist in fencing.
“I want to bring honor to the country and I want to make history. Many people underestimate the Philippines and I want to be that person to prove to them that the Philippines is very, very good,” said the 16-year-old fencer who is now training in France.
Maxine will be making her debut in the Southeast Asian Games in August in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She is entered in women’s individual foil.
Since a freak accident at home forced her to skip the 2015 Games and sidelined her for eight months, Maxine lost no time to get back into shape.
Last year has been productive for the five-foot-three eldest daughter international participation and crowds.
But though Villamor looks vulnerable to this generation of long hitters, Pactolerin said the tight, tree-lined military layout remains challenging even to the toughest pros. “You need to hit accurate drives or the trees will come into play. A little miscue will result to a double or triple bogey,” said Pactolerin.
While the likes of Clyde Mondilla and Tony Lascuña remain the early favorites in the R2 million event, Pactolerin maintains the desire to win is still there which he hopes to display, along with his familiarity with the par-72 layout.
Casas, who edged Pactolerin in a thrilling playoff to win the last Masters in 2000, also keeps a positive outlook heading to the 72-hole championship sponsored by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. of a successful business couple. She topped the Cadet and took third place in the Open division of the Thailand Open apart from her silver medal in the Malaysian Open.
She placed 22nd in a field of 121 in the World Cadet championship last April in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She was eliminated in the Round of 32 by a Russian who eventually ended up champion.
Maxine, a Grade 11 student at Immaculate Conception Academy in Greenhills, knows she’s a far cry away from her goal.
“Yes, but I’m gonna be an Olympian at 24. Or 20? When I qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” she said.
Meanwhile, Maxine will try to make the most of her eight-week training under Olympic champion Patrice Lhotellier, current coach of the French Cadet national team.
She trains with France’s top juniors at the Cercle d’escrime Melun Val de Seine in Melun, about 41.4 kilometers from Paris.
“I would usually train for 3-4 hours a day. It consists of one hour daily lessons, one hour group class and 2 hours of open bouting,” said Maxine who is accompanied by her mother.
Maxine also had training stints in New York and Los Angeles in the United States where she had the opportunity to pit skills with top American fencers.
All these trips are being paid for by her parents who are former athletes themselves.
“For them (parents), sports help the youth in many ways. Sports teach us many life lessons which we cannot learn in school. It teaches us to be humble in success and strong in failure,” she said.
Maxine also owes her career to Filipino coach Rolando Canlas Jr. who allows her to train abroad.
She said Canlas teaches the sport for free during Sundays in a barangay hall in Quezon City where some of the students ended up getting sports scholarships from schools.
That gave Esteban the inspiration to launch her own project she named TOUCHE, an acronym for Together U Can Help Educate.
“Because I know that I am more privileged than many other Filipino youths, I am using my resources to get donations of used fencing equipment and gear for our less privileged brothers and sisters,” she said.
Maxine said she has left a collection box with the project’s name on it in every fencing club she trained around the world.
So far, the donations have been pouring, mostly from clubs in the US, according to Maxine who spends the allowances she gets from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to pay for the shipping cost of the balikbayan boxes.
“Unknown to many, a lot of our fencers in the national team are scholars from universities. Fencing helped them get education. This is what I want to do after I reach my Olympic dream, help the youth get education through fencing,” she said.
Outside of fencing, Maxine also loves playing the violin.
“I usually have my violin class twice a week. I was going to have my solo violin concert in December but unfortunately, because I was very busy, I wasn’t able to study enough pieces,” she said.
“Violin helps my brain relax after a hectic and intense day of fencing. It relaxes not only my mind but also my fingers. My coaches tell me that fencing is like a dance. It has rhythm and so when I fence, I actually just try to relax and to feel the rhythm,” Maxine added.
Somewhere in the interview, Maxine mentioned something about her other dream of becoming a race car driver.
Well, that’s another story.