THE MOST MEMORABLE GOLF COURSES
IN ASIA 2019 – JUDGING PANEL
KYI HLA HAN
10 year Chairman of the Asian Tour, Multiple
Time Asian Tour Champion, Order of Merit
winner, and currently the President and
Principal Designer of Kyi Hla Han Golf
Design. Reuter’s named Kyi Hla the “7th most
influential person in Asian SPORT” in 2015.
Mr Han has the unique distinction of being an Asian designer
living and working in Southeast Asia. Having reached a
pinnacle of Asian professional golf and spending a lifetime as
a successful businessman, he is incorporating that expertise to
his design philosophy and to the courses he has had a hand in
designing. He is also leading the drive to develop youth programs
throughout SE Asia. And importantly, consulting to owners
who desire to bring their courses to international tourism and
competition standards.
www.kyihlahangolf.com
MARK SIEGEL
Owner and Managing Director of Golfasian
- the largest Asian golf tour company. In
2018, Golfasian handled 23,252 golf tourists,
who played 140,791 rounds. Golfasian also
maintains the most comprehensive website
on golf in Asia www.golfasian.com
Mr. Siegel was instrumental in the formation of “Golf In A
Kingdom; The Thai Golf Experience”; the biggest golf destination
marketing organization (DMO) in the world and included the
best golf courses in Thailand and the Tourism Authority of
Thailand. Also, Mr. Siegel founded “Golf Coast Vietnam” a
DMO which promotes Vietnam’s best golf courses to the world.
Golfasian attends major golf trade shows, regularly organizes
educational trips for international tour operators and journalists.
Mr. Siegel is a respected golf tourism industry expert and speaker.
He has presented at numerous golf and travel conferences,
seminars, and professional events and is regularly called upon
by government bodies to assist with their golf tourism strategies
and plans. Mr. Siegel currently resides in Bangkok together with
his wife and 14-year-old son.
SAM SAKOCIUS
President Qualitas Project Control. Renowned
for building over 130 golf courses worldwide.
USA Golf Course “Builder of the Year”,
Entrepreneur, Innovator, Development and
Construction Expert, Author, Lecturer, Panelist
and Perennial Judge for Golf Inc “best of”
competition, he is currently consultant and
technical advisor to World’s top Golf Designers as well as to the
foremost Golf and Hospitality developers.
Mr Sakocius is regarded as the global expert in all aspects of golf
development and related real estate disciplines with a focus on
Luxury and Eco Resorts and state of the art “Entertainment Zones”.
He specializes in the technical aspects of golf functionality, design
quality and feasibility, efficiency, and technical soundness over the
course of planning, design, and implementation of a project. He is
currently consulting to projects in Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Sri
Lanka with projects in various stages of development in Portugal
and Turkey. Qualitas is based in South East Asia enabling rapid
response time to any issues as they arise.
www.qualitasprojectcontrol.com
DERMOT SYNNOTT MBA
CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Destination Golf
global guides. A former scratch handicap
golfer, Dermot has been working in golf
publishing and golf destination marketing
campaigns across the last 20-years, spear
heading projects for many tourist boards around
the World. He has been a Director of Golf Digest and the Ryder
Cup Official Guides at Celtic Manor, but as Founder and CEO of
Destination Golf Media Ltd, he is the driving force behind 14-annual
Destination Golf global guides, 20-regional editors, 73-affiliate
partners which reaches 500,000 travelling golfers.
He is extremely active, connected and respected in global golf
tourism, and recently joined the World Golf Awards / World Travel
Awards management team as a Director of Global Partnerships.
The global website is www.destinationgolf.travel
Testimonial
“What Destination Golf does is very important
for the golf tourism industry because 70% of golf
travellers are looking for new destinations to visit.
In their search they need a source that they trust. So, by
giving golfers who are curious about new golf destinations
recommendations by good and seasoned golf travel writers,
Destination Golf is providing an essential service to the travel
industry. There are so many wonderful, but maybe little known
destinations, just like here in the Philippines, so it’s a very important
ambassadorial job that Destination Golf is providing to traveling
golfers and the industry. There are so many golf locations that need
the sort of promotion that Destination Golf provides
for the industry. So thank you, Destination Golf, for
the service you do for the industry.”
Destination Golf Asia Team of Mr. Sam Sakocius and Ms. Zenta Thomas with
Mr. Peter Walton (IAGTO) at Asia Golf Tourism Convention (AGTC), Philippines 2018.
Mr. Peter Walton, Managing Director, The International
Association of Golf Tour Operators (Iagto)
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