The Asian Tour set to return to China with the Asian Golf Championship in Xiamen this November
Sentosa, Singapore, October 30: The Asian Tour will sanction its first event in China in nine years with the Asian Golf Championship set to make its debut at the Kaikou Golf Club in Xiamen, Fujian Province from November 30 to December 3.
This is the first event following the historic strategic partnership signed between the Asian Tour and China Golf Association (CGA) in March. The tournament will be promoted and operated by Beijing based promoter CGD (Beijing) Sports Industry Co., Ltd (CGDs).
With a prize purse of US$350,000, the Asian Golf Championship will be jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and CGA with a field breakdown of 56 Asian Tour professionals, 48 China Tour professionals and four special invitations.
The Asian Golf Championship will also welcome Rolex as the official Timekeeper for the tournament and is part of the Asian Tour’s strategic partnership with the CGA where the goal is to grow and develop professional golf in the region.
Golfers from the China Tour will be eligible to take up associate memberships with the Asian Tour, with the top-five non-exempt players from the China Tour Order of Merit receiving spots into the Final Stage of the Asian Tour Qualifying School in 2018.
The winner of the Asian Golf Championship will earn exemption on the Asian Tour under the winner’s category and for Chinese professionals, their earnings will count towards the Asian Tour Order of Merit and China Tour Order of Merit.
Pang Zheng, CGA Deputy Secretary General, is looking forward to the start of the Asian Golf Championship.
“The co-sanction of Asian Golf Championship is a new opportunity for both China golf and the growth of the game of golf in Asia. It will be a great tournament and a truly competitive one for golf fans to enjoy.
“I would like to thank our partners from Asian Tour, Fujian Golf Association and CGDs for putting up the golf championship together and I would like to wish all players the very best as they challenge for the title,” said Pang.
Asian Tour CEO Josh Burack hailed the return of the Asian Tour to China as he believes it is an important step forward for professional golf in China and for men’s golf across Asia as a whole.
“The launch of the Asian Golf Championship is a significant development for professional golf in Asia. Our strategic partnership with the CGA is a game changer as the creation of tournaments like the Asian Golf Championship will greatly enhance playing opportunities for the many talented players from China and the Asian Tour members who will compete against them.
“A new chapter for Asian golf is ready to be written and we look forward to the start of the Asian Golf Championship as our Asian Tour members are excited to tee off in China again,” said Burack.
China Tour-Regular Season CEO Ouyang Wen is also pleased to promote and operate the China Tour and Asian Tour co-sanctioned tournament as it represents a significant milestone for both Tours.
“This new tournament not only completes our 2017 season but also opens up the door for Chinese professional golfers as we seek a more sustainable way of cooperating with other leading international Tours.
“Thanks to the great support from CGA, Asian Tour, Fujian Golf Association, Kaikou Golf Club and all tournament sponsors, the Asian Golf Championship will attract the best players from all over the world and is set to become an iconic event in sports industry which also is a good reflection of China’s Road and Belt Initiative,” said Wen.
Ends.
Seoul, Korea, October 27: The Asian Tour has signed a new partnership with Golf Magazine Korea to widen its presence in the country which will host three Asian Tour events in 2018.
Golf Magazine Korea will join a stellar list of Regional Media Partners of the Asian Tour which includes Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Sina, Golf Digest Online Japan, Golf Digest India and GolfAsia.
Through this new partnership, Golf Magazine Korea will receive branding and hospitality opportunities at selected Asian Tour events.
This deal will also allow the Asian Tour to broaden its exposure in the Land of the Morning Calm through exclusive content in Golf Magazine Korea, and its parent company, the Seoul Economic Daily.
Josh Burack, CEO, Asian Tour said: “We are delighted to be partners with the Golf Magazine Korea, which is a highly respected and very influential golf media organization in Korea.”
“Korea is a very important market for the Asian Tour and I’m confident this partnership with Golf Magazine Korea will benefit both organisations tremendously.
Tae-kwon Song, CEO of the Golf Magazine Korea and Seoul Economic Daily said: “We are extremely pleased to be the first exclusive Korean media partner with the Asian Tour, which is one of the fastest growing golf Tour in the world.”
“This partnership will benefit both organizations as we can expect more Korean golfers to play and contend for titles on the Asian Tour. There will be more Asian Tour events staged in Korea next year so this deal comes at an appropriate time.”
Ends.
About Asian Tour
As the official sanctioning body for professional golf in Asia, the Asian Tour leads the development of golf across the region, enhancing the careers of its members while maintaining a commitment to the integrity of the game. The Asian Tour, through its membership of the International Federation of PGA Tours, is the only recognised pan-Asian professional golf tour in Asia. This unique feature positions the Asian Tour at the pinnacle of professional golf in Asia; providing its events with Official World Ranking status. Tour Partners include Rolex (Official Timekeeper), Panasonic (Official Consumer Electronics), ECCO (Official Footwear Sponsor), FENIX XCell (Official Apparel Supplier), Titleist (Official Web Partner), Bloomberg TV (Official International Media Partner), Bloomberg Businessweek Chinese (Official International Media Partner), Wall Street Journal (Official International Media Partner) and Sentosa in Singapore which is the Home of the Asian Tour which also has an office in Kuala Lumpur.
Please visit us at:
www.wp-asiantour.ocs-sport.com
www.facebook.com/asiantourgolf
About Golf Magazine Korea
With the highest circulation number, Golf Magazine Korea has been the leading golf magazine in the nation since its first publication in 1999. Besides various information and detailed columns, Golf Magazine Korea selects “Top 10 Golf Courses in Korea” biannually. The magazine’s list of work on development of golf in Korea also includes hosting “the Amateur Golf Club Championship,” “Korea – China Amateur Golf Championship,” and “Seoul Economic Daily Membership Showcase.”
Thomas Bjørn interview transcript
Q. What does it mean to you to be selected as captain for Team Europe?
Anytime you get this bestowed on you, you have to be grateful that players want you as captain and there’s a Tour that believes that you can be captain. It is a moment of reflection on your own career. You got to realise that your golf might not be as good anymore. On the other hand it is also a sign that you have put in a lot of time in your career and in the Tour. I’m honoured and pleased to be in this situation where I can do this and it is something that I’m really looking forward to. I feel that I can get across to the senior and to the new players. I have a lot of good relationship that I feel that I can do a good captaincy that the players want.
Q. You had the chance to see the Glenmarie course, tell us a bit about it?
I was fortunate to play in this event in 2014. It is a great golf course. It is not the longest golf course in the world but it is quite tricky. It will create a nice atmosphere because you can get on a birdie run on this course. That should be fun in match play.
Q. How did your meeting go with the Malaysian Prime Minister?
He knows more about golf than I do so that’s a good sign! It was a fantastic honour to meet a man in that position. I think that’s also a sign of where golf takes you. It takes you to places where you never thought you would go. When you are 22, you are all about playing golf but once your career progresses, you realise that the game of golf reaches so many other things. Sometimes this sport reaches the higher level of life. It is a great platform to showcase some countries and what Malaysia is all about. It was a fantastic honour to be in that office. When you sit in a chair in an office like that, you realise how little a piece you are in a big world. It is humbling.
Q. How important is it for you to look at your players early in the season given that it is the Ryder Cup year as well?
There are a lot of players where I’ve seen them in that environment before. There are also the new players where it is their first test in many years for team golf. Most of them come from the amateur ranks where they’ve played team golf and represented their country. It gives me a good indication of where some of them are. There are some players who are going to be in the European team like (Tommy) Fleetwood and (Tyrrell) Hatton who I know them quite well as individual golfers but to see them in a team environment is equally important. I can’t just put my Ryder Cup cap on. I need to put my EurAsia Cup cap on and we come in and focus during the week. We need to have a team who will face a strong Asian team. If I take my focus off during the week then I don’t think we will have as a good a chance of winning.
Q. You’ve played in several Ryder Cup teams and served as captain in the Seve trophy. What do you think will be your main parameters in your strategy?
For me it is very much depending on the team that lines up. My job is to put a strategy in place with the players I have. I only know a few of them so far and I’m having conversations with them. In my head at the moment, I’m making out a plan. I’m very deep into stats, very deep into looking at where they are form wise and from there I will make a plan and have good conversations with them. For a lot of European golfers, it is difficult because the EurAsia Cup will be their first tournament of the year. They will come out from their winter training and it is for me to keep them in check and come out to perform to their highest level.
Q. Have you considered naming a vice Captain yet?
I haven’t named any vice captains. I will have one vice-captain and he will be a playing vice-captain. I will announce together with the team.
Q. What do the European players take away from the EurAsia Cup?
Every time we play for Europe, we play for something more than ourselves. I’ve met individual people in my career and they all tend to want to become football players or some sort of team sport. Then I meant these football players and they all want to play golf. There’s a dream of what’s on the other side. What we take away from it is the chance to play for ourselves, our country and our continent. That’s something that doesn’t happen very often. Europe is a fragmented place in a lot of ways but in the EurAsia Cup and Ryder Cup, we get to play for Europe. You don’t see that in many sports. As much as it is great fun, it is also a burden which the players carry. It tends to bring out the best in us and show that we Europeans can be close in what we do. I’ve seen that so many times in the Ryder Cups. We get asked a lot why we are so successful in the Ryder Cup even though we come from so many countries whereas the Americans they have a flag to play for. But I think that when it really comes down to it we are great at what we do. It creates an atmosphere in the team room where I’ve never seen before anywhere else. Players come in trying to make the team room the greatest place you can be in.
Q. Will you use the EurAsia Cup to show your intentions in the Ryder Cup just like what the Americans did in the Presidents Cup?
Well that will depend on the results… There’s a saying in golf that the Americans are really strong and I agree. They are extremely strong and they’ve certainly found something that they can use in their team golf. But if you look at the world rankings as of Monday, we have 10 Europeans in the top-20. European golf has never been in a better place on the world rankings. It is very easy to draw your attention to Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth because they’ve been extremely dominant in the second half of the season. I could have never dream of the position that the Europeans are in at the moment six months ago. I think we are really in a strong position. I have to look at things with a different eye. Those players will come into the EurAsia Cup and feel what a team room feels like and playing as a team and playing for each other. A lot of players want to be part of team event and that’s why I feel that the EurAsia Cup has a great future.
Q. What changed for Team Europe after the 10-10 draw in 2014 and they produced a commanding win in 2016?
Momentum is the one thing in golf that changes. When I look at 2014, we got off to a great start but we lost the momentum on Sunday and there was a growing belief in the Asian team that they could win. In the end we went from thinking we were going to win to hoping to get a draw. We see that in team events all the time. In 2016 Darren (Clarke) really kept that momentum going. He had strong characters in his team and that’s important to lead the way. You got to have players to stand up when something is going wrong. I remember my first experience in the Ryder Cup was in 1997 and we were leading 10 ½ to 5 ½ going into the Singles. There was an atmosphere in the team room that we were going to win this. All of a sudden the mood got a bit too loud and Olazabal just stood up and shouted at everybody to keep the atmosphere down and realise that there is a job to do. In 2014, we were guilty of thinking that we were going to win it and lost that momentum. I can’t use anything from 2014 or 2016 when I come here. It will be about the next three days when I come with my team in January.
Recent Comments