Johnnie Walker gets social with golfers

The biggest golfing event of the year was preceded by the one of the biggest weekend kick-off’s as the Aqua Resort Club played host to the Johnnie Walker Social on Friday night to welcome all of the participants of the 10th Annual Tournament of Champions.

Duffers from around the region enjoyed a little pre-tournament banter with their Johnnie Walker Black as they mingled and raised money for a worthy cause—NMI Crime Stoppers.

Crime Stoppers board chairman Jim Arenovski was on hand to thank the TOC organizers for raising $700 to fight crime and to wish all of the golfers luck in the tournament. “Johnnie Walker is donating all of the proceeds from the drinks to Crime Stoppers and it’s a great opportunity for us. Fortunately some of our board members work with the TOC and Johnnie Walker was looking for a charity to donate the money to so it was natural that they gave it to Crime Stoppers,” he said.

Defending champion Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho was also present at the evening affair and spoke about his chances in this year’s TOC.

“I feel pretty good about it. I am really looking forward to tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday. I hear that there are a lot of guys from off island so it’s going to make things really interesting.

“I’m working on a new driver and fine tuning my swing because I have been having problem with my rotator cup. I’m trying to swing differently so I don’t aggravate my shoulder too much,” he said.

Camacho said that the difficulty with his shoulder stems from an old injury from his previous passion for motocross and baseball. The local ace has since found a talent for golf that punched his ticket to the 2005 Johnnie Walker Classic Pro/Am in Beijing.

“It’s an experience that you just can’t describe. You just got to go there and see those guys. Those guys just don’t play golf, it’s their job. For me it pays to work hard. They wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for hard work. Golf took me a step further than any of the other sports—it’s the only sport that took me to this kind of level and gave me the kind of exposure that I got at the Johnnie Walker,” he said.

While he has played the course several times, Camacho said that he doesn’t expect to have any “home turf” advantage, but rather that his skills will be put to the test at LaoLao.

“It’s will basically test your ability in how you manage both the long and short game—especially now since they let the ruff grow a little higher.”

While Camacho will certainly be in the running to win this year’s event, the winner of each of the TOC’s flights will be entered into a drawing for the opportunity to participate in the 2006 Johnnie Walker Classic Pro-Am next February in Perth, Australia.