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Late season sees big names and big purses in Asia

This week’s Hero Honda Indian Open will mark the start of a lucrative run of major tournaments on the Asian Tour which will see world stars Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Yang Yong-eun heading towards Asian shores over the coming weeks.

India’s national championship, headlined by local hero Arjun Atwal, Major winner Michael Campbell and US PGA Tour star Daniel Chopra, will offer a record prize fund of US$1.25 million at DLF Golf and Country Club starting on Thursday and it will begin the final lap of the 2009 Asian Tour season.

Following the trip to the sub-continent, the Tour heads to southern Malaysia for the Iskandar Johor Open which has also raised its prize pot to an unprecedented US$1 million at Royal Johor Country Club from October 22 to 25.

Two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen and Korean star Choi Kyung-ju, winner of seven titles on the US PGA Tour, will star in the third edition of the Johor event which Goosen triumphed from Thai veteran Thaworn Wiratchant last year.

World number two Mickelson, victorious at the Tour Championship in America two weeks ago, will feature in the US$5 million Barclays Singapore Open at Sentosa Golf Club from October 29 to November 1 alongside fellow Major winners Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els.

The Asian Tour then heads to China for another ground-breaking event where the HSBC Champions in Shanghai will become the region’s first World Golf Championship event.

World number one Woods, a runner-up twice at the event, will head to Shanghai once again where Asia’s first Major champion Yang will also feature in the US$7 million event. Yang won the title in 2006 where he defeated Woods, the same man he beat for his historic triumph at the US PGA Championship title in August.

The UBS Hong Kong Open, offering US$2.5 million in prize money, will be played at its traditional home, the Hong Kong Golf Club from November 12 to 15 where Asian Tour stalwart Lin Wen-tang will defend his crown. Lin claimed his fifth Asian Tour title at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters last weekend.

Other events slated for the tail-end of the season include the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open, which celebrates its third edition, Omega Mission Hills World Cup and the inaugural King’s Cup in Thailand.

Asian Tour Executive Chairman Kyi Hla Han said it was tremendous for professional golf in the region to see tournaments offering record prize funds.

“The US$1.25 million Hero Honda Indian Open will herald an exciting run of big-money events on the Asian Tour which will also see the staging of the US$1 million Iskandar Johor Open, US$5 million Barclays Singapore Open, US$7 million HSBC Champions, US$2.5 million UBS Hong Kong Open and US$5.5 million Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China,” said Han.

“All these major tournaments will continue to showcase the best of Asian golf and it will be especially exciting as these events will also shape the race for the prestigious Asian Tour’s Order of Merit crown, currently led by Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee. With so much to play for, the race to become Asia’s number one in 2009 is still a wide-open affair.

“We are also very excited to welcome a host of world-class players including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Asia’s first Major champion Yang Yong-eun and it will be a great challenge for our players to rise to the occasion and compete with these great golfers. These events will surely be compelling viewing for golf fans and television viewers around the world as we continue to show the great progress made by Asian golf.”

October 6, 2009