Despite the National Golf Association of the Philippines' assurances that things will return to normal by the middle of January, lingering concerns persist amid reports that it owes millions of pesos to its former World Handicap System provider.
Silicon Computer and Telecoms Inc., which handled the country’s handicapping system for the last 10 years, confirmed the debt in its letter to golf clubs across the nation.
In the letter, a copy of which was furnished to golf pinoy dotcom, Silicon chairman and chief executive officer Rodel Mangulabnan asked golf clubs to submit written consent to share their club members’ information with the foreign company contracted by the NGAP to ensure a seamless transition.
Mangulabnan said Silicon will initiate the database transfer upon receipt of the golf club's consent and subsequent settlement of outstanding billing statements for NGAP for the years 2022 and 2023, including arrears in 2021.
The letter did not indicate the amount owed by the NGAP but estimates range to millions based on the 30 percent share of Silicon on the handicapping fee.
While not providing details in the letter, Mangulabnan confirmed that the NGAP failed to remit their share in the last two years on top of its arrears in 2021.
NGAP terminates Silicon's services
Silicon received its walking papers on September 1 and was told to wrap up things by the end of the month, according to Malungabnan.
Despite being told that NGAP would no longer pay for its services starting in October, Mangulabnan said they decided to provide the services until their subscriptions to Internet gateway and ancillary services expire in mid-December.
He said they did not want to disrupt the tournaments scheduled for the last quarter of the year.
On Friday, the WHS Philippine website was out of reach after Silicon did not renew its data center lease in Dallas and Munich where its servers are co-located.
“We have decided not to renew our Internet gateway and ancillary service subscriptions, knowing they would be useless for the next 12 months,” Mangulabnan said.
NGAP vows normalcy by January
On Saturday, the NGAP assured the local golf community that daily handicaps will be available starting January 16 through the website of its new WHS provider, DotGolf.
While waiting for the transition, NGAP president Martin Lorenzo said the handicap indexes as of December 15 will continue to be official and effective until January 15.
“We assure you that the transition is intended to be seamless, with minimal disruption, if at all, in our services and operations,” Lorenzo said.
He said the NGAP upgraded to a world-class provider, “WHS-certified by The R&A and USGA, precisely to obtain the enhanced quality we require.”
DotGolf currently services The R&A, England Golf, Ireland Golf, Scottish Golf, Wales Golf, Golf New Zealand, and Golf Australia.
Lorenzo asked for patience amid the inconvenience brought about by the premature news circulating on social media.
“Kindly view these issues as temporary pains that will be resolved when we complete our system transition,” he said.
Golf club managers contacted by golf pinoy dotcom believe the temporary shutdown of WHS would not affect upcoming tournaments.
However, the transition faces challenges considering that it took six months to complete the transition from the Unified National Handicap System to WHS in 2020.
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