Junior golf academy in the pipeline for Brunei

BRUNEI may very well get a junior golf academy in the near future.

Mike Sebastian, the chief executive officer of the Asia Pacific Golf Group, said that plans for such an academy are in the works during a press conference yesterday at the Empire Hotel & Country Club in Jerudong.

"We are looking to start an academy to develop junior golfers but more at an amateur level. The junior gold academy is going to happen," said Sebastian yesterday.

Sebastian is in the Sultanate to unveil that the 2012 Asia Pacific Golf Summit (APGS) will be held from Dec 11-13 in conjunction with the Royal Trophy 2012.

The former will be held at the competition venue which is the Empire Hotel & Country Club, which topped the Asian Golf Monthly award by winning the Best Golf Resort in Asia category last year, and the latter will follow right after from Dec 14-16.

It is also a milestone for Brunei considering that a summit is being held before the tournament proper for the first time in the country.

"By staging these two world class events together, we are actually creating an unmatched golf spectacle of global proportions the coming together of the best in a golf business event and a golf tournament," said Sebastian, who is the owner and producer of the summit.

This is the sixth edition of the APGS with the previous be held in Singapore, China, Malaysia and Thailand.

A total of some 300 delegates are expected to attend the APGS this year and will feature about 35 world-class speakers from around the world.

One of the key speakers will be Colin Montgomerie, who is arguably one of the greatest golfers to have come out of Europe as he is remembered for his eight European Tour Order of Merit titles and captaincy of the victorious European Ryder Cup team in 2010.

The Royal Trophy, meanwhile, brings about a clash between Team Asia and Team Europe.

Europe, who are the defending champions, will be spearheaded by two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal while Asia will be led by 35-time tournament title winner Naomichi 'Joe' Ozaki.The Brunei Times