A GOLFER AND A GENTLEMAN

WHAT A SWING! AT THE AGE OF 34,
FERNANDO HAD ALREADY BEEN THE
NUMBER 1 PLAYER OF ECUADOR FOR
MANY YEARS

When I took on Golf, almost 25 years ago, after my doctor had told me to either change the sport I practiced (tennis) or to look for another doctor because he couldn’t do much for my ever increasing back pain, little did I know that golf was going to become not only my favorite game, but my favorite passion!
Among the many satisfactions and the great time I’ve had while practicing golf over the last quarter of a century, I could mention many things, but a very few of them stand above everything else and will remain in my memory for as long as I live.
One of them occurred yesterday, Monday October 18, 2010, while playing morning exercising golf with my friend Fernando Fiore, the greatest Golf player ECUADOR has ever produced. I was thrilled, honored and delighted to see him make the NINTH HOLE IN ONE of his life, a number not many people in the world can say they have reached.

It was about nine O’clock in the morning and nobody but us was playing, since on Mondays the course is normally closed. Fernando and I with our caddies had played the first three holes uneventfully; Fernando making his expected pars while I was, as usual, struggling to make my bogeys. As I stood watching him swinging, I was wondering just how close to the pin the ball will land. As he finished his swing, I knew, right from its taking off, that this time his perfect shot at hole number 4 was going to sink in the cup, and, guess what... it did. I jumped to give him a five, and a big hug, but just as he does every time he makes a great shot, he remained calm, he only smiled briefly and said to me, “What an irony, I’m making a hole in one at the time when I'm not playing well”. This is the man who pars the course at least three out of every five games, who makes two to three birdies on each side of the course, and who makes at least five pars every nine holes. Modesty, of course is one of his many well known and outstanding characteristics.


FERNANDO (L) WITH HIS INSEPARABLE FRIEND AND TOUGH RIVAL OF ALL TIMES, ISIDRO YCAZA (R), IN THE LATE 60'S

Fernando, who started golfing when he was seven, is the son of an Italian immigrant who fought in WWI, and an Ecuadorian mother. Uninterruptedly he was, for at least 36 years, between 1956 and 1992, the undisputed number one golf player in Ecuador; he successfully represented our country in many amateur tournaments around the globe. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that he is for Ecuador the symbol of Golf, just as Jack Nicklaus is for the United States of America, except that he, unlike Jack, never became a pro.
Today, at the age of 70, Fernando walks and plays nine holes every weekday of the year in our beloved 18-hole home course at the Guayaquil Country Club ("GCC"), just about 15 miles north of Guayaquil, my home town during the summer.

AT 70, FERNANDO STILL IS A GOLFER ONLY A VERY FEW
GOLFERS IN GUAYAQUIL DARE TO CHALLENGE
When I found out from my caddie that he was doing that, I politely asked Fernando if he would allow me to walk and play along. It came to no surprise for me to hear him say he would be pleased to do so, and since, he and I play together almost every morning. Occasionally one or two other friends join us. Ever since I had been doing that, I have been enjoying and hopefully learning a bit, not only from his extraordinary ability to play good golf with no effort, but also, and equally important, from his gentleman`s personality, his clear view of the world’s and local events; his always entertaining conversation; his knowledge of History and his ever entertaining stories about his Golf experience throughout the world. Fernando is a great golfer and a great gentleman as well.
This was not the first time I had personally witnessed the sinking of the ball in one shot, in fact, I, myself have done it twice (twenty two years ago this year); my wife Fanny did it once, much before I did it (and much to my envy) in the same hole Fernando just did it this time; I saw my club's comembers Jorgen Nielsen, Gonzalo Noboa and my friend Eduardo Falquez do it, all at the GCC, but there was one occasion when I saw it done, at The Remington Gulf Club, in Kissimmee, Fl,where I live one half of the year, by my also dear Argentine friend Miguel Acevedo who visited Guayaquil in July 2009 and played at our course.



MY ARGENTINE FRIEND MIGUEL ACEVEDO AND I, AT THE GUAYAQUIL COUNTRY CLUB IN JULY 2009

None of us, except Fernando Fiore, is a good golfer; we just play golf for the pleasure of doing so, and dream, as most golfers do, to be able to improve our game some (ever elusive) day, however, the fact that we have made one or more holes in one, only confirms the saying that “GOLF IS LIKE SEX, YOU DON´T HAVE TO BE GOOD AT IT TO ENJOY IT”.

SALUD FERNANDO!