Johnnie Walker Classic

The Johnnie Walker Classic was a European Tour golf tournament which was played in the Asia-Pacific region. Johnnie Walker is a brand name and the owners have a long history of tournament sponsorship. They also sponsored the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles which was a European Tour event played in Scotland.

Johnnie Walker Classic
Tournament information
LocationPerth, Australia
Established1990
Course(s)The Vines
Par72
Length7,103 yards (6,495 m)
Tour(s)European Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia
Asian Tour
FormatStroke play
Prize fund£1,250,000
Month playedFebruary
Final year2009
Tournament record score
Aggregate259 Ernie Els (2003)
To par−29 as above
Final champion
New Zealand Danny Lee
Location map
The Vines is located in Australia
The Vines
The Vines
Location in Australia
The Vines is located in Western Australia
The Vines
The Vines
Location in Western Australia

The event was originally called the Johnnie Walker Asian Classic. There was a tournament already called the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia, but when that event ceased in 1992, the word Asian was dropped from the name.

History

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In 1989 Johnnie Walker sponsored the Hong Kong Open, and it was decided to establish an additional tournament which it would sponsor on an ongoing basis. This tournament was called the Johnnie Walker Asian Classic, and was first staged in Hong Kong in 1990. It later evolved into a traveling event that was primarily utilized by its sponsor as a marketing strategy in the Asia Pacific region. In 1992 it became the first event to be sanctioned by the European Tour in East Asia (the Dubai Desert Classic was the first in Asia as a whole).

In 1993 the word Asian was dropped from the title. In 2005 the tournament was held in China for the first time, as part of the European Tour's push into China, which saw four events held in mainland China and one in Hong Kong in the 2005 season. The location of the tournament changes every year.

The tournament was co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia from 1996,[1] and by the Asian Tour from 1999.[2]

In 2005 the tri-sanctioned event had a field consisting of 60 European Tour players, 60 Asian Tour players, 28 PGA Tour of Australasia players, and 8 sponsors' invitees. The prize fund was £1,250,000. This amount is large by Asian and Australasian Tour standards, but not by European Tour or PGA Tour standards. However the tournament attracts a number of the World's leading players each year by paying them large appearance fees.

Nine of the first fourteen editions were won by players who have topped the Official World Golf Ranking at some point in their career (Faldo, Els and Woods twice each; Woosnam, Norman and Couples once each).

Winners

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Year Tour(s)[a] Winner Score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up Venue
Johnnie Walker Classic
2009 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Danny Lee (a) 271 −17 1 stroke   Felipe Aguilar
  Hiroyuki Fujita
  Ross McGowan
The Vines, Australia
2008 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Mark Brown 270 −18 3 strokes   Greg Chalmers
  Taichiro Kiyota
  Scott Strange
DLF, India
2007 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Anton Haig 275 −13 Playoff   Richard Sterne
  Oliver Wilson
Blue Canyon, Thailand
2006 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Kevin Stadler 268 −20 2 strokes   Nick O'Hern The Vines, Australia
2005 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Adam Scott 270 −18 3 strokes   Retief Goosen Pine Valley, China
2004 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Miguel Ángel Jiménez 271 −17 2 strokes   Thomas Bjørn
  Jyoti Randhawa
Alpine Golf, Thailand
2003 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Ernie Els (2) 259 −29 10 strokes   Stephen Leaney
  Andre Stolz
Lake Karrinyup, Australia
2002 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Retief Goosen 274 −14 8 strokes   Pierre Fulke Lake Karrinyup, Australia
2001: No tournament due to rescheduling from November to January
2000 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Tiger Woods (2) 263 −25 3 strokes   Geoff Ogilvy Alpine Golf, Thailand
1999 ANZ, ASA, EUR   Michael Campbell 276 −12 1 stroke   Geoff Ogilvy Tashee, Taiwan
1998 ANZ, EUR   Tiger Woods 279 −9 Playoff   Ernie Els Blue Canyon, Thailand
1997 ANZ, EUR   Ernie Els 278 −10 1 stroke   Peter Lonard
  Michael Long
Hope Island, Australia
1996 ANZ, EUR   Ian Woosnam 272 −16 Playoff   Andrew Coltart Tanah Merah, Singapore
1995 EUR   Fred Couples 277 −11 2 strokes   Nick Price The Orchard, Philippines
1994 EUR   Greg Norman 277 −11 1 stroke   Fred Couples Blue Canyon, Thailand
1993 EUR   Nick Faldo 269 −11 1 stroke   Colin Montgomerie Singapore Island, Singapore
Johnnie Walker Asian Classic
1992 EUR   Ian Palmer 268 −20 1 stroke   Bernhard Langer
  Brett Ogle
  Ronan Rafferty
Pinehurst, Thailand
1991: No tournament
1990   Nick Faldo 270 −14 4 strokes   Ian Woosnam Royal Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Notes

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  1. ^ ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; EUR − European Tour.

References

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  1. ^ Stone, Peter (10 May 1995). "Move to a global tour revealed". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. p. 73 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Happell, Charles (10 November 1999). "Australians get a chance to topple Tiger". The Age. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. p. 59 – via Newspapers.com.
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