Over at Cagayan de Oro, far away from the glare of spotlight in Metro Manila, there is a new emerging force in junior golf that has been making a noise especially this year.
Just last month, Alethea Paige O. Gaccion captured runner-up honors in the Faldo Series European Grand Finals for Girls 16-under held at Al Ain Equestrian ang Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates.
She will be flying to Manila this week ranged against the country’s finest in the National Golf Association of the Philippine National Double Amateurs at the Aguinaldo Golf Club.
Then Gaccion would spend New Year’s Day back home. Only to return for the NGAP National Stroke Play at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac — venue of her Mommy Maling Montecillo Open Ladies Junior 14-18 championship just a few weeks earlier.
Gaccion is nicknamed Ally, most likely as a play of words because her father, Alfred is a lawyer. But if there’s any allegation to be filed against the 16-year-old, it’s talent, hard work and dedication in the first degree.
“At six years old, she’s involved in a different sport, triathlon,” Alfred said.
“But at age eight of nine, I brought her to the golf course that’s how it began.”
With a coaching support that includes no less than Frankie Minoza, Alethea kept on winning.
From September this year, she captured the Junior Philippine Golf Tour Vis-Min, Junior Golf Foundation of the Philippines Mimosa Junior Open and the NGAP Singha Junior and Amateur Qualifier also at Luisita.
AFTER winning Asian Grand Final of the Faldo Asia Grand Finals held in Vietnam early this year, Alethea Gaccion wound up second in the European edition recently.
She wound up fifth in the Singha Junior in Thailand in October.
Easy to see how serious Alethea is with golf. After all, there are five of them in the family who play the sport including Alfred, aunt Gladys Opitz and nephew Apollo and niece Athena.
In fact, Alethea is now home-schooled, the better to navigate through her busy golf schedule that usually begins at 6 a.m. right there at their home course, Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club.
“On a real note, I really think homeschooling helped me improve with my golf game. It gives me more time to spend with my coaches, and play a lot of tournaments,” Alethea told the Cagayan de Oro Times.
“After classes, I then work on my strength and conditioning at our home gym. Sometimes in class my teachers would be upset because I tend to fall asleep because of how tired I was.
But I don’t blame them for feeling that way because it’s all my own doing, and I try my best to make everyone proud of me.
“That’s why I’m doing homeschool so that not only I can make people proud of my game, I could also not leave my academics behind, especially because I want to go college golfing abroad.”
Alethea would also like to follow the career trajectory of many Filipino golfers before her who obtained scholarship in the United States through golf.
Alfred said they are currently scouting for schools in the US, one which will best help Alethea to shine in collegiate scene and harness her talents beyond the amateur ranks.
It would be a big leap even for somebody as promising as Alethea. Major adjustment, too, for the whole family.
One day, Alfred recounted, when she was playing in the US during spring.
“Both of us did not expect how cold the weather; it got so cold that we decided to just refrain talking about the weather so as to avoid reminding ourselves that it’s too cold.”
For sure it’s going to get even colder as she journeys further in search of international golfing success.
Yet dreams can’t be too far, just as long as they have each other.
