Bill Shaw on today; Wongs eye third title

MANILA, Philippines - A full field of 288 teams sets out today for Wack Wack’s premier member-team tournament – the Bill Shaw Classic – with Elphege Wong and Damas Wong seeking a record third straight overall championship at Wack Wack’s two championship courses.

The Wongs combined for a 68 at the West then assembled a 64 at the challenging East layout for a 132 last year as they repeated as champs in the 36-hole, four-day tournament that features the best-ball format in the first day and the aggregate in the second round.

For its 24th staging, organizers have put up a wide array of prizes, including two Mercedes-Benz cars (C180 and C200) and one Chrysler 300C for hole-in-one feats while a Swiss watch worth of P1 million will be raffled off during awards rites on March 16.

That makes the event, held in honor of Wack Wack’s founding father William J. Shaw and supported by long-time backer CATS Motors, the biggest and richest in club tournaments in terms of participation and prizes with one Jeep Wrangler, one Dodge Durango SUV and one Harley-Davidson motorbike also up for grabs for aces.

To spice up the awards night, Delta Airlines will raffle off two round trip business elite tickets to any Delta destination in North America, according to the Bill Shaw organizing committee, headed by Sports and Games chairman and director Carlo Baniqued and chaired by former Rizal Rep. Jack Duavit.

Other backers of the annual event, supported by Wack Wack’s Ladies Chapter, headed by president Evelyn Sy, along with Elo Campos, Jo-Anne Lao and Liza Lopez, are Shell, D&L Industries and Globe Telecom with laptops, iPads, iPhones, Samsung Galaxy, 46” TVs, golf sets, home theater system and range finders also to be raffled off.

Puresound, First Metro Management, Inc., Cord Chemicals, Northern Islands Co, Inc., Land Registration System, Inc., MVP Sports Foundation, Pacific Online, San Miguel Corp., ArthaLand, Unilever Phils, Excellent Golfing Partners, Pacific Links Golf Development Corp, and Lucerne/Chronos making up the Gold sponsors.

The hole sponsors are California Chemicals, China Bank, Cinnabon, G & W Clubshares, JCA Security Agency, M O S T Law, Neptali Gonzales II, Arben Santos, Oishi, ReBisCo, Splash Corporation, S & R Membership Shopping, Stradcom Corporation, Security Bank, and WS Sports.

The other backers of the event are MDI, Asya Premier, Camp John Hay, Cebu Pacific, Sherwood Hills, Sugi Restaurant, The Plaza, Via Mare Restaurant, Virgin Beach Resort, Johnnie Walker, former Congressman Jack Duavit and GMA 7.