Johnnie Walker Classic returns to Perth
IN: News | Australasian PGA | Johnnie Walker Classic (2006) | General | 01 Jun 2005
The 2006 Johnnie Walker Classic, Asia-Pacific's best known and most prestigious golf tournament returns to Perth, February 9-12, after an absence of two years.
Presented by Johnnie Walker, the world's leading deluxe Scotch Whisky, the fifteenth Johnnie Walker Classic will be played at the Vines Resort and Country Club, Western Australia's premier golf course.
Announcing the move, Ben Anderson, Global Brand Director for Johnnie Walker said: "We are delighted to be bringing this great golf tournament back to the beautiful city of Perth and look forward to renewing our association with the city and all the friends we made in 2002 and 2003, the last time the Johnnie Walker Classic was played in Australia."
Western Australia Tourism Minister, Mark McGowan, said the event was a real coup for Perth. "The Johnnie Walker Classic will be a great tourism draw card, bringing in visitors from interstate and overseas," he said. "The other advantage is that the Vines is a public golf course, meaning that visitors and local golfers can play the same course as the game's superstars."
Mr Anderson and Mr McGowan also announced that the Johnnie Walker Classic will return to Perth in 2009.
In its fifteen-year history, the Johnnie Walker Classic has been played in Australia on three occasions. In 1997, Ernie Els won at the Hope Island Club in Queensland. In 2002, Retief Goosen won at Perth's Lake Karrinyup and the following year, at Lake Karrinyup, the first time the tournament has been played at the same venue in consecutive years, Ernie Els won again. This year in Beijing, China, Adam Scott, Australia's leading golfer, won from a truly international field that included five of the top twelve players in the world.
The Johnnie Walker Classic is jointly owned by Diageo, the world's leading premium drinks business and IMG, the world's premier sports, lifestyle management and marketing company, is sanctioned by the European, Asian and Australasian Tours and is supported by the Western Australian Government through EventsCorp, a division of Tourism Western Australia.
Source - PGA Tour
