Tiger Beach joins Omega China Tour

The Omega China Tour, which starts in Hainan next month (April), has expanded to six events for 2006, with each leg increasing from three days to the traditional four.

The circuit, which made a highly successful debut last year with four events, will return starting at the Kangle Garden Spa & Golf Club (April 6th to 9th), the scene of a dramatic 2005 finale when Li Chao clinched his second win by beating Ryan Huang Yonghuan in a dramatic play-off. In fact, all four of the 2005 venues, are back on the 2006 schedule, with the Kangle Garden and Zhuhai's Golden Gulf Golf Club holding the first two events, while Langfang's Elephant Club and the Kunming Country Golf Club will host tournaments in the second half of the season.

"The enthusiasm and support for the China Tour from the players and the clubs was one of the reasons why 2005 was such a success," said Li Yong, Deputy General Secretary of the China Golf Association. "These four clubs deserve to be recognised for the way they have thrown their weight behind the tour. I'm delighted that this year they will be joined by the Tiger Beach Golf Links."

The Shandong club will provide a unique setting for the third leg of the Omega China Tour from June 15th to 18th. Twinned with Carnoustie, the venue for the 2007 (British) Open Championship, Tiger Beach is a replica of the 'links' golf that historians believe has been played on the East coast of Scotland since the 1500s.

Nestled on the shores of the Yellow Sea (Huang Hai) in Shandong province, its pot bunkers and undulating fairways will offer a very different challenge to those by the Tour's other host venues, but similar enthusiasm. "Everyone involved in golf in China is aware of how successful the first season of the China Tour was, and how it has united clubs, players and officials to a common cause. Tiger Beach wanted to show our support for the development of professional golf in China as well as having the chance to showcase our facilities - our course gives a taste of the very origins of the game of golf," Tiger Beach Deputy Vice-President (Operations) Simon Fang Juzheng said.

"I believe adding our course to the China Tour family, enriches the Tour as a whole. Each course on the Tour is different in its own special way, and each tests the abilities of China's professionals in different ways. I believe some of the players who have never played a true links course before are going to find Tiger Beach a unique challenge."

Li Yong also revealed that the China Tour will make an announcement imminently, welcoming a major international company as the Title Sponsor.

"The forthcoming announcement will be further proof of how quickly the China Tour is becoming established. We have taken so many important steps towards fulfilling our goal of giving our players the chance to develop their competitive skills and to fulfil their dreams of being high quality professional players. The players have worked hard through the winter, with a renewed enthusiasm for the game, and I am hopeful that we will see that many of them have improved significantly this year!"

March 27, 2006

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