Bangkok--1 Nov--Asia Pacific Golf Summit
Pattaya, Thailand (October 31): Thongchai Jaidee has been honoured for his services to the game in Asia.
Among the highlights on the opening day at the fifth edition of the Asia Pacific Golf Summit in the Thai coastal resort of Pattaya, Thongchai joined Asian Tour Executive Chairman Kyi Hla Han as a recipient of the 2011 Asia Pacific Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mike Sebastian, Chief Executive Officer of the Asia Pacific Golf Group, said: “In slightly over a decade, Thongchai has developed and ascended to the highest level of the game in the Asia Pacific region, Europe and North America. He has brought both glory and fame to himself, his country and to the game of golf.”
Thongchai, winner of a record 13 Asian Tour titles, said: “I’m delighted to receive the 2011 Asia Pacific Lifetime Achievement Award. I would like to thank the organisers for bestowing this honour upon me.
“I am still very motivated to do well on the international stage and also to help develop the next generation of champion golfers in Thailand through my academy in my home town of Lopburi.”
A former paratrooper in the Thai army, Thongchai has long been regarded as one of Asia’s finest golfers. The 41-year-old has enjoyed an extremely successful career on his home continent after turning professional at the relatively advanced age of 30.
Since relinquishing his amateur status, Thongchai has notched 13 victories in Asia and is a three-time Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, the only man to have claimed a hat-trick of crowns.
Although he is still awaiting his first win on European soil he has the distinction of having won four events that have been co-sanctioned by the European Tour and Asian Tour — the Malaysian Open (2005 and 2006) and the Ballantine’s Championship and Indonesia Open (both 2009).
Among his other claims to fame, Thongchai has appeared in all four of golf’s Major championships.
The Asia Pacific Golf Summit is part of a week-long golf carnival in Pattaya that also includes the PGA Conference of Asia, the Golf Course Superintendents of Asia Summit, the ASEAN Golf Tourism Forum and the Southeast Asia and India Golf Merchandise Exposition. All activities are being sponsored and supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) and Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB).
THAILAND ‘GOLF HUB OF ASIA’ EVENT DATES 2011
?Asia Pacific Golf Summit |October 31-November 2|
?Golf Course Superintendents of Asia Summit |October 31-November 2|
?ASEAN Golf Tourism Forum |November 3|
?PGA Conference of Asia |November 3-4|
?Southeast Asia and India Golf Merchandise Exposition (SEAIGME) |November 4-6|
For further information, please contact Spencer Robinson at
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