Bill Shaw Classic slated March 3-6

MANILA, Philippines - The Bill Shaw Classic, long considered as one of the top member-guest team events in the land, fires off March 3 with a stellar field tipped to compete in various divisions at Wack Wack’s west course.

Oliver Gan, who teamed up with Erwin Vinluan to capture last year’s overall championship, is expected to be back to defend his crown in the 21st staging of the event, presented by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines and held in honor of the club’s founder.

The tournament, where each team plays the best-ball format on the first day and then the aggregate in the second round of the 36-hole event spread over four days, will be open to the first 288 teams with a maximum handicap of 18, according to Wack Wack president Luis Tan and sports and games committee chair Tommy Tan, who are spearheading the staging of the club’s signature event.

Lady members and male spouse dependents of Wack Wack are eligible to join the tournament, to be played under Stableford scoring system where bogey is worth 1 point, par 2 points, birdie 3 and eagle 4. The team with lowest net scores will be declared the overall champion.

The event is backed by Pacific Links Golf Developmen, Inc., Unilever Phils., Raymundo’s Trophies Madrigal Bayot Dev’t., Asia Brewery, PLDT, San Miguel Corp. The Plaza, Outback, Excellent Golfing Partner Corp., Philippine Airlines, St. Francis Square and Lamen Gen. Merchandise as premier sponsors; Stradcom Corp., Paragon, Coppertone, VS&F, Peerless Products Manufacturing Corp., 3D New Generation, JImmar, KBC Phils. Corp., Eaglecor and Sharp Phils. as major sponsors.

Hole sponsors are Zesto Corp., Rebisco, Cherry Foodarama, Montebello Villa Hotel, Dunn-Edwards Paint, Jardis, GG&A Club Shares Brokers Inc., Meralco, Abub’s Lechon, Group Management and Dev’t. Inc. while the event’s supporters include Hon. Neptali Gonzales, The Manor @ Camp John Hay, Uratex Clear Blue and JCA Security Agency. Kart Plaza, Dynamic Sports, Club Car, Water Craft, The Turf Company, Citizen Eco Drive and Tech Point Enterprise are hole-in-one sponsors.

Events to be disputed are Groups I, II and III and the seniors division for 55-years-old and above. Entry fee is pegged at P7,000 per team, inclusive of 1 free practice round for the guest from Feb. 16 to 26, and two raffle tickets to the premiere raffle prize of Mitsubishi Montero. Additional raffle ticket costs P2,500 each.

Pre-tournament cocktails will be held March 1 starting at 6 p.m. at the Banquet A function room of Wack Wack while the awards night will be held at the William J. Shaw Pavilion on March 6.