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Nearly 200 entries for Singapore Open

A global contingent of 198 players will descend on Sentosa Golf Club on September 4-5 to compete for a prized spot in the US$3 million Barclays Singapore Open, the Asian Tour has confirmed.

In a move to make the tournament, regarded as the ‘Major of Asia’, a truly open competition it was agreed by the organisers and the Asian Tour to hold an 18-hole Qualifying Tournament where 10 players will make it through to the tournament proper.

Entries closed on August 17 and there has been a huge response from both professionals and scratch-handicap amateurs based as far away as North America and New Zealand for the first-ever qualifying session at a full-field Asian Tour event.

Due to the number of entries, the qualifier will be played over two days, with the top-five finishers from each day qualifying for the main event.

Former Volvo China Open champion David Gleeson and Glenn Joyner are three of the better known Australians competing. Other established names who have signed up include Ecuador’s Rafael Ponce, Indian Vivek Bhandari, Swedes Olle Nordberg and Stephen Lindskog and Chinese Taipei's Chang Tse-peng and Chen Tze-chung.

A total of 36 players from Singapore will attempt to qualify while 23 amateurs will be chasing a place in the prestigious event.

They will play the newly upgraded Tanjong course at Sentosa Golf Club with the main tournament being staged on the demanding, par-71 Serapong course from September 7-10.

The Asian Tour is delighted at the popularity of the qualifying event. “It is fantastic to see such a big entry for the Barclays Singapore Open qualifying round. The cosmopolitan nature of the field for qualifying, with players coming in from South Africa, North America, Scotland, Germany, Australia and New Zealand demonstrates the expanding reach of the Asian Tour,” said Louis Martin, Chief Executive, Asian Tour.

“We are delighted to be able to offer a US$3 million event for our members and also open it up to players from across the globe who have a chance to make it through the qualifying round. The Barclays Singapore Open is now a true Open, creating an opportunity for both our members and other players to qualify on merit.

“Also, the large number of golfers coming from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines shows the depth of the game on the continent and the magnetic appeal of the Asian Tour.”

The status of the Singapore Open, which burst back onto the scene last year after a three year hiatus, has been reinforced by the five-year sponsorship deal signed with Barclays, one of the world’s largest financial institutions with a big presence in Asia, and the huge increase of prize money from US$2 million to US$3 million.

Australia’s Adam Scott will defend his title against a strong field which includes Ernie Els of South Africa, currently world ranked seventh, a resurgent Lee Westwood of England who was runner up in 2005, evergreen American Fred Couples, Japanese number one Shingo Katayama and the region's finest led by current Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit leader Jeev Milkha Singh of India and last year’s leading player Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand.


August 22, 2006