Southwoods makes APGA history

While Filipino players are finding it hard to win on the Davidoff Asian Tour, a local golf club – the renowned Manila Southwoods – is interestingly picking up the cudgels for all of them.

The Manila Southwoods made history in the Davidoff Tour when it won the Venue of the Year award for the second straight year, getting the nod of a multinational roster of players with its world-class championship course and amenities.

Southwoods becomes the first club ever to win the prestigious award back-to-back.

Robert John Lamb Sobrepena, chair of the Manila Southwoods GCC, personally received the award from Ramlan Dato Harun, executive director of the Asian PGA Tour, during the sixth annual Asian PGA Gala Dinner held at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia recently.

"This is another triumph for Philippine golf," declared Sobrepena upon arrival from Malaysian capital.

Sobrepena said they won the award despite the fact that the country hosted just one Asian Tour 2000 leg (Casino Filipino Open) with a relatively small $200,000 purse while its closest rivals staged multi-million dollar events in modern complexes bearing the imprint of famous architects.

Also, only about 10 of the more than 150 pros who voted were RP pros with the rest a mixture of players from the whole of Asia, Europe and the Americas.

"The enormity of this new milestone is such that we have set a standard for the other top clubs in the region to match or surpass," he said. "Staying as No. 1 is always a challenge and we’ll make sure to contend for the award again next year."

The new award, according to Sobrepena, is a fulfillment of their vision to build a complex that will not just become a members’ haven but at the same time serve as a showcase club for the Philippines.