Johnie Walker Classic to start

Johnie Walker Classic to start

MANILA (Agencies): Many of the world's top golfers, including
defending champion Greg Norman of Australia and world number one
Nick Price of Zimbabwe, will take part in the annual Johnnie
Walker Classic in the Philippines from Jan. 26 to 29, organizers
said yesterday.

The event, at the Orchard Golf and Country Club in Cavite
province just south of Manila, will be the first qualifying event
for the 1995 World Championship held in Jamaica.

More than 100 golfers will take part in the Classic at the
Arnold Palmer-designed course, with top Asian professionals from
the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India vying for
the title against stars from the United States, Africa, Australia
and Europe.

Apart from Norman, the world number two, and Price, the field
includes Spain's Seve Ballesteros, Germany's Bernhard Langer,
U.S. Open champion Ernie Els, Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, David
Frost of South Africa and Fred Couples of the United States.

Price won two of last year's major tournaments, the British
Open and the U.S. PGA championship.

Norman won the Johnnie Walker Classic last year in the Thai
resort of Phuket.

Total cash prize for the event is around US$930,000, with the
winner getting $150,000.

Just after the tournament, both Price and Norman will play an
exhibition duel at the newly established Riverside Golf Club near
Bogor, West Java, Indonesia on Feb. 1.

The game at the par-72 course is to celebrate the opening of
Indonesia's latest golf link, the Riverside Golf Club, located 40
kilometers southeast of the capital.

The two golf giants are scheduled to arrive Jakarta on Jan.
31.