Asian golf mag names WW East Phl best course

MANILA, Philippines - The fabled East Course of Wack Wack Golf and Country Club was named the Best Golf Course in the Philippines during the 2012 Asian Golf Monthly Awards in Brunei recently.

The par-72 East layout, home of the Philippine Open, bested the Sta. Elena Golf Club in Laguna and the Palmer Course of the Orchard Golf and Country Club in Cavite for the top award at a gala dinner of the event, regarded as the region’s premier annual poll of golfing establishments in the Asia Pacific.

Twenty-seven other awards were handed out, including the best championship course in Asia Pacific won by the Mission Hills’ Blackstone Course.

Wack Wack Golf and Country Club vice president Butch Campos accepted the award on behalf of WWGCC president Dr. Philip Ella Juico, under whose leadership and initiative the premier club has maintained its edge over its closest competitors.

Among the notable attendees at the lavish gathering at the Empire Hotel & Country Club were pioneering Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh, who received an Asia Pacific Lifetime Achievement Award, and famed golf course architect Ron Fream, who was inducted into the Asia Pacific Hall of Fame.

Colin Montgomerie also received a Lifetime Achievement Award while the inaugural Asia Pacific Golf Group Global Legacy Award was bestowed upon Jack Nicklaus. Both Montgomerie and Nicklaus recorded acceptance videos.