IN basketball, Jorge Gallent is going for his first PBA championship as a San Miguel head coach in the ongoing Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
But in doing so, Gallent missed the opportunity to win another championship in the other sport that he plays and is actually very good at – golf.
READ: These PBA players are good in golf. But Gallent is the best
Unknown to people outside the golf circle, Gallent is a scratch golfer (meaning, he carries a handicap of zero) and is one of the best, if not the best, among basketball personalities hooked on golf.
Last year, Gallent won in the Mango Tee, the premier club tournament of the Alabang Golf and Country Club, a tournament that the Beermen coach has won five straight times, in tandem with guest Junjun Plana.
WATCH him swing:
But the 55-year-old skipped last week’s Mango Tee, missing out on a chance at his sixth straight crown, due to his commitments as San Miguel coach.
He decided to skip the tournament before the start of the semifinal series against Barangay Ginebra.
“Before, I didn’t know,” said Gallent, on whether he will skip the golf tournament or not. “’Yung thinking ko, we will beat them (Ginebra) and reach the finals so I just backed out of it.”
Gallent has been playing golf since his younger days, but stopped sometime in 1991, three years after he figured in a motorcycle accident that left him blind in his right eye.
During his respite in golf, Gallent played amateur basketball with the Asia Brewery franchise where he also won championships, before becoming one of the direct hires of Tanduay in its entry to the PBA in 1999.
“I stopped for 20 years because of my eye. I stopped in 1991 and then I went back to the game in 2010, and then tuloy-tuloy na,” said Gallent.
He has become a very good player over the years, winning a couple of club championships in Alabang as well as at Orchard. More importantly, a round in the fairways becomes his outlet after a stressful day in basketball.
“Very relaxing. Takes out all my stress,” said Gallent.
Gallent says he'd rather win in basketball
As much as he is excellent at golf, Gallent hopes to replicate the same success on the basketball court, which is why he doesn’t mind missing the opportunity to win another club championship.
“I’m kinda good in golf, but I rather do better in basketball,” Gallent said.
A six-time champion as coach in the defunct Philippine Basketball League, Gallent gets a crack at the biggest achievement possible in Philippine basketball in San Miguel’s bid to win the title.
“Basketball is more important than golf at this time,” said Gallent.
And besides, there's always next year.
“I’ve won the last five (at the Mango Tee tournament) so I don’t have to prove anything,” Gallent said in jest.
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