At its annual gala awards evening in Singapore Asia's leading golf magazine, Asian Golf Monthly, has announced that Australia was voted by its readers as the best golf destination outside Asia, beating Scotland and Dubai into 2nd and 3rd place.



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For the eight year Asia’s finest golfing facilities were honoured at a glittering gala dinner to commemorate the Asian Golf Monthly Awards.

Regarded as the Asian golf industry benchmark for excellence, prominent golf course developers, owners, club general managers and golf course architects gathered in the Grand Ballroom at Singapore’s Meritus Mandarin Hotel on November 15, 2007.

Among the big winners were Mission Hills Golf Club (left) and Spring City Golf & Lake Resort in China, Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Club and the Thai Country Club on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Mission Hills, host of the US$5 million Omega Mission Hills World Cup, was voted the Best Golf Resort in Asia. Ken Chu, vice chairman of the world’s largest golf club, was on hand also to collect the award to the recently-opened Pete Dye Course as the Best New Course in Asia.

Another China coup was delivered by the Jack Nicklaus-designed Mountain Course at Spring City in Kunming, winning the accolades as Best Course in Asia and Best Course in China.

The Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club, venue for the US$4 million Barclays Singapore Open at the start of November, also had cause for celebration, winning the categories for Best Championship Course in Asia and Best Course in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Thai Country Club, which will stage next month’s Volvo Masters Asia, was another two-time winner, retaining its titles as the Best Course in Thailand and Best Clubhouse in Asia.

Thailand’s reputation as a haven for golfing tourists was further enhanced with the Kingdom once more topping the standings in the category of Best Golfing Destination in Asia.

Robert Trent Jones Jnr, one of the world’s best known course architects, was honoured for his outstanding work in the region spanning more than quarter of a century, capturing the award for the Best Golf Course Architect in Asia for the third year in succession.

In the country-by-country categories, the following clubs emerged triumphant: Ria Bintan Golf Club (Indonesia), The Club at Nine Bridges (Korea/Japan), Saujana Golf & Country Club (Malaysia), Sta. Elena Golf Club (Philippines), DLF Golf & Country Club (Sub-continent), Sunrise Golf & Country Club (Taiwan) and Dalat Palace Golf Club (Vietnam).

As in previous years, voting in Asia’s premier golfing poll was determined by readers and subscribers of Asian Golf Monthly.

Mike Sebastian, publisher of Asian Golf Monthly, said: “Since the re-launch of the Asian Golf Monthly website at the start of the year, traffic to the site has increased tremendously and we have been ranked as the 17th most visited golfing website in the world by Yahoo!

“With a large proportion of the region’s golf clubs also having an on-line presence and the vast majority of golfers being computer savvy, we felt the time was right to further raise the profile of the Asian Golf Monthly Awards by going on-line.”

Befitting its stature as the most comprehensive poll of Asia’s golfing facilities, the awards were handed out to category winners at a lavish gala dinner at the conclusion of the inaugural Asia Pacific Golf Development Summit.


ASIAN GOLF MONTHLY AWARDS 2007

Best Golf Destination outside Asia

1, Australia; 2, Scotland; 3, Dubai.

Best Golf Destination in Asia

1, Thailand; 2, China; 3, Indonesia.

Best Course in Asia

1, Spring City Golf & Lake Resort (Mountain Course); 2, Tanah Merah Country Club (Garden Course); 3, Sta Elena Golf Club (Makiling Course).

Best Championship Course in Asia

1, Sentosa Golf Club (Serapong Course); 2, Thai Country Club; 3, Shanghai Sheshan International Golf Club.

Best Golf Resort in Asia

1, Mission Hills Resort; 2, Le Meridien Nirwana Golf & Spa Resort; 3, Spring City Golf & Lake Resort.

Best Clubhouse in Asia

1, Thai Country Club; 2, Mission Hills Golf Club (Dongguan site); 3, Tanah Merah Country Club.

Best New Course in Asia

1, Mission Hills Golf Club (Pete Dye Course); 2, Black Mountain Golf Club; 3, Red Mountain Golf Course.


Best Golf Course Architect in Asia

1, Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects; 2, Schmidt Curley Design; 3, Nicklaus Design.

Best Course in China

1, Spring City Golf & Lake Resort (Mountain Course); 2, Mission Hills Golf Club (Olazabal Course); 3, Shanghai Sheshan International Golf Club.

Best Course in Indonesia

1, Ria Bintan Golf Club (Ocean Course); 2, Nirwana Bali Golf Club; 3, Damai Indah Golf & Country Club (PIK Course).

Best Course in Japan/Korea

1, The Club at Nine Bridges; 2, Phoenix Country Club; 3, Sky 72 Golf Club.

Best Course in Malaysia (Including Brunei)

1, Saujana Golf & Country Club (Palm Course); 2, The Mines Resort & Golf Club; 3, The Empire Hotel & Country Club.

Best Course in the Philippines

1, Sta. Elena Golf Club (Makiling Course); 2, Eagle Ridge Golf & Country Club (Faldo Course); 3, Riviera Golf & Country Club (Langer Course).

Best Course in Singapore

1, Sentosa Golf Club (Serapong Course); 2, Tanah Merah Country Club (Garden Course); 3, Singapore Island Country Club (Bukit Course).

Best Course on the Sub-Continent

1, DLF Golf & Country Club; 2, Victoria Golf & Country Resort; 3, Delhi Golf Club.

Best Course in Taiwan

1, Sunrise Golf & Country Club; 2, Ta Shee Golf & Country Club (East-Central Course); 3, Orient Golf & Country Club.

Best Course in Thailand

1, Thai Country Club; 2, Alpine Golf & Sports Club; 3, Amata Spring Country Club.

Best Course in Vietnam

1, Dalat Palace Golf Club; 2, Ocean Dunes Golf Club; 3, Chi Linh Star Golf & Country Club.

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