On Friday, the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) will elect 11 members of the board of trustees who will, in turn, name a president who will steer the sport in the next two years.
Either it will grant a third term to the incumbent president, or pick a political heavyweight with a strong leaning on junior golf will be known by noontime at Alabang Country Club.
Some 140 clubs across the country have already sent their proxy votes that will be counted by the nominations and elections committee.
Among those seeking seats in the board are NGAP president Martin Lorenzo and former congressman Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo.
Unless something happened at the last minute, it’s going to be mano a mano between the two major powers in the sport — something that the association hasn’t seen in recent memory.
Arroyo said he has no earth-shaking platform but “growing the game” and doing everything it takes to achieve that.
“Most likely they will also have the same platform as I have because we all love this sport,” Arroyo said.
It’s clear that the outcome will be influenced not by personalities but by issues.
The Nomelec has changed the format of the proxy votes, a move that will play a major part in the outcome as a big number of clubs are in danger of getting disenfranchised by the whole process.
Another issue is the sudden replacement of the handicapping system service provider which caused an uproar from golfers and clubs, alike.
The NGAP has since employed a foreign firm to handle it, saying it offered a cheaper yet better service than that Silicon Computer and Telecoms.
Yet another issue bugging the NGAP leadership is the poor performance of the national team in international competitions like the Asian Games.
The Philippine Open, the association’s flagship project, has also not been held since the pandemic.
The election is also more than a year overdue because it was originally set for 24 February of last year.
