Filipino stars must deal with tragedy their way

At face value, it may have appeared more than a little crass of the Asian Tour to go ahead with the Manila Masters last week in the wake of the devastation that visited other parts of the Philippines in the form of Typhoon Haiyan.

While Filipinos came to terms with the thousands of lives lost and their homes wiped from the face of the planet, professional golfers were teeing it up at a country club resort just 360 miles from where Haiyan, known to the locals as Yolanda, wreaked its havoc.

Yet aside from the need to press on with life as usual in the face of adversity, the Asian Tour golfers were right to play on. They raised whatever money they could for the disaster relief effort and tournament winner Liang Wen-Chong of China said he would donate half his US$135,000 (€100,000) winner’s cheque to the victims of the typhoon.