Double-Header In S'pore to end Asian season
S'pore International at Tanah Merah the new event to usher in prestigious Open at Sentosa
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Golf fans in Singapore are set to enjoy back-to-back weekends of top events with a new tournament, the Singapore International, to be held just before next month's SMBC Singapore Open.
The US$1 million (S$1.37 million) Singapore International will be held at Tanah Merah Country Club (TMCC) from Jan 13-16. The US$1.25 million Singapore Open, postponed this year due to the pandemic, returns at the Sentosa Golf Club from Jan 20-23.
The two events will mark the close of the 2020-21 Asian Tour season. The circuit resumed at the end of last month with back-to-back events in Phuket - after a 20-month hiatus caused by Covid-19.
The 2020-21 season has seen six events played so far. Australian Wade Ormsby won the first of those, the Hong Kong Open, in January last year and has led the Merit list since then.
The top-30 finishers from the Order of Merit will also gain entry into February's US$5 million Saudi International, which also serves as the Tour's 2022 season opener.
Ormsby and other leading Tour players like Thailand's Jazz Janewattananond and Phachara Khongwatmai, Malaysian Gavin Green, Shubhankar Sharma from India and South Korean Kim Joo-hyung will feature at the Singapore competitions. The Republic's top players Gregory Foo, Abdul Hadi Uda Thith, Koh Dengshan, Jesse Yap and Choo Tze Huang will also compete on home soil.
Asian Tour's commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant said his organisation was delighted to launch a new event and the Singapore International "will play such a key role in helping to bring down the curtain on our season while also adding an exciting new international event to Singapore's sporting calendar".
TMCC's Tampines Course will be used and its president Ho Beng Huat noted it is "designed for championship play, and we can look forward to seeing some fine display of golfing skills by the golfers as they play the challenging layout".
Meanwhile, it was announced on Monday that four qualifying spots for next year's British Open will be offered at the Singapore Open.
It will be for those who finish in the top 12 and ties at Sentosa's Serapong Course and who are not already exempt for the July 14-17 Major at the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland.
CHANCE TO PLAY
It has been a testing two years for everyone because of the pandemic... This will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase the pristine course conditions of the Tampines Course, following its reopening in 2018.
HO BENG HUAT, Tanah Merah Country Club president, on hosting the Singapore International event at the Tampines Course.
