BURBANK – Luke Carnegie, a Geology Major student currently attending Los Angeles Valley College from Burbank, was the overall winner of the recent 4th United Specialist Healthcare Foundation’s Golf For A Cause tourney at the scenic DeBell Golf Course just below the Verdugo Mountain north of Los Angeles where herd of deer roam in wild abandon. The young par buster whose parents are both golfers, carded a gross 75. With a handicap of nine, Carnegie’s net score was 66.
“I haven’t played for two months and I didn’t expect to win,” the youthful Luke told this writer. “I just relied on my fundamentals, played my best and just have fun. I’m looking forward to the future.” But his fear was dashed when he turned in two birdies on holes two and three then capped three more birdies on the last three holes. This tournament victory for Carnegie is his first championship title.
Although his parents are golfers themselves, Carnegie said that nobody had influenced him and got hooked playing golf since he was 14. “It was my choice,” he asserted matter-of-factly. He works parttime in Geosystems in San Fernando Valley.
Other major winners include overall runner-up and Class A champion Dylan Vallejo and Class B champion Capt. Bong Silva, and Class C champion Jun Capistrano. The closest to the pin went to Dr. Willie Del Mundo.
Carnegie and Vallejo both grossed 75 and a handicap of nine with similar net score of 66. But due to tie breaker rules on the last nine holes established by the U.S. Golf Association, Carnegie won with 35 total strokes while Vallejo had 39.
There are quaint coincidences and similarities between the top-tier winners: both Luke Carnegie and Dylan Vallejo are 20 years old, are both junior college students, and have been good friends. Vallejo started taking an interest in golf at age six accompanying his grandpa retrieving practice golf balls at the driving range. Before participating in this Golf For A Cause, Vallejo has been a golf champion in several tournaments around the Los Angeles area. He is pursuing Film Production at Glendale Community College.
Bong Silva, a PMAyer retired captain, grossed 86 with a handicap of 18 and netted 68. Jun Capistrano grossed 96 (handicap: 25) with a net score of 71.
The funds raised are earmarked to indigents in some barangays of Guinsiliban, Camiguin, an island province off the northern coast of Mindanao, Philippines where the active volcano Mt. Hibok-Hibok is mightily standing.
USHF founded on Sept. 9, 2014 by prominent Los Angeles physician Dr. Joselito Babaran is a charitable and a public benefit nonprofit organization engaged in wellness, medical missions and livelihood projects in far flung rural areas of the Philippines as well as relief programs caused by natural calamities, like what occurred during the flood in Bangued, Abra in 2023. Dr. Babaran thanked the sponsorship and participation of Superior Golf Club International (SGCI) that “has always supported us in our tournaments for four years in a row.” This golf tournament was co-organized by renowned Los Angeles impresario Freddie Castañeda. ([email protected])
