AmCham Taipei’s 2016 Golf Championship, held May 27 at the Kuo Hua Golf & Country Club in Tamsui, saw a total of 58 golfers on 15 teams gather for a day of friendly competition and fun. With a full shot-gun start, all players teed-off promptly at 6:30 a.m., following the Texas Scramble format. Under clear skies and with hot temperatures, players stayed refreshed with non-alcoholic drinks generously sponsored by Swire Coca-Cola, tequila cocktails by Patron Spirits, and craft beer by Steve’s Brew.

For the first time at the AmCham Taipei Golf Championship – held annually by the Chamber since 2011 – a side activity called “Pitch the Candidate” was introduced at this year’s event. In addition to the regular 18-hole tournament, golfers could take aim at signs bearing the photo of either presumed U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Each successful hit was awarded with a sleeve of top-quality golf balls.

Thanks to hole-sponsors Allianz, Corning, and Intel, golfers had the chance to win Nearest to the Pin contests at every Par-3 hole, as well as Longest Drive on two Par-5 holes. All participants also took home “goody bags” filled with golf balls courtesy of Sanfu Global’s Simon Chang to celebrate his “Hole-in-One” achieved on March 4 this year, as well as other take-aways provided by Asian Tigers, Costco Taiwan, and Synergy Net.

Team handicaps for this year’s tournament were determined using the Peoria system, with the six special holes drawn randomly by players during the awards lunch. IGST Rockys (Joe Welsh, Ray Koot, Donato Scioscioli, and Henry Wang) won the overall championship, followed by AmCham 3 (Sam Lo, Susan Huang, Jesse Chen, and Charles Liang) as runner-up, and Air Products San Fu 3 (Paul Yang, Patrick Chen, Ally Kim, and Jeff Chung) in third place. Other golfers also had opportunities to win prizes in the lucky draws that followed, with products sponsored by Audi, Ballantine’s, Costco, Delta Airlines, Grand Hyatt Taipei, He Feng Chinese Cuisine, Howard Plaza Taipei, IGST, Patron Spirits, Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Taipei, Silks Place Taroko, The Place Tainan, and The Sherwood Taipei.

Before ending lunch, AmCham President Andrea Wu extended special thanks to the 2016 AmCham Golf Committee – Simon Chang, Doug Klein, Joe Welsh, and Lee Wood – for their expert advice on all things golf-related.

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