Samsung 3-in-one golfest up

Already among the top supporters of Philippine sports, electronics giant Samsung dips its fingers into a new discipline with an all-encompassing three-in-one golf circuit targeting amateurs of all ages in popular courses in Luzon and the Visayas.

Billed the Samsung Golf DigitAll Challenge, the event will feature the Samsung Putting Challenge, the Samsung Interscholastic championships and the Samsung Amateur Tour over a six-month period commencing late this month all the way up to March.

The Amateur Tour will have stops at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club, the Cebu Country Club, Tagaytay Midlands and Mt. Malarayat while the Putting Challenge visits Aguinaldo, Canlubang, Riviera, Cebu, Villamor, Orchard and Wack Wack.

The revival of the Interscholastics set in February aims to bring the rivalry of top schools into the fairways and greens in a grand showdown that should sustain the much-needed talent search and development for present and future members of the national team.

"There is now a renewed enthusiasm towards golf in the local scene from junior golfers to ladies, amateurs as well as the seniors. It is for us to keep the intensity, get them to enjoy the game more and in the long-term, help in building a breeding ground for good players," said Sang Youl Eom, president and CEO of Samsung Electronics Philippines.

Together with Boy Blue Ocampo, who heads the Professional Sports Management Group which will handle the multi-faceted series, Eom presented the crucial details of the project to representatives of the involved golf clubs as well as the supporting companies in a meeting yesterday.

"It is our hope that like in the other sports we have supported we will be able to push our amateurs to a level of excellence which will be beneficial not just to their individual selves but to the Philippines as a whole," Eom said.

Samsung also supports the Philippine Basketball Association and other sports of growing national interest like taekwondo. It is also one of the main sponsors of the Philippine delegation to the ongoing Asian Games in Busan, Korea.

The Putting Challenge will be a public competition during weekends in various courses where players will be made to compete for slots in the grand finals where the big prizes will be at stake.

The same goes with the Amateur Tour which will be a series of 36-hole tournaments in various handicap classifications culminating in a national competition.