Singapore Open golf tourney returns after three years with US$2 million prize purse

SINGAPORE – Golf’s Singapore Open, the national men’s professional competition, will return to the Republic when it tees off at the Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) from Nov 6 to 9. 

Last played in 2022, the event will be sanctioned by the Singapore Golf Association (SGA) and Asian Tour, with Kweichow Moutai, a Chinese liquor company, coming on board as the new title sponsor in 2025.

Staged at the SICC’s New Course, the Moutai Singapore Open will offer a prize purse of US$2 million (S$2.59 million) – an increase from the US$1.25 million for the 2022 edition – as one of 10 events on the International Series.

The International Series, which was launched in 2022, provides a pathway to the LIV Golf series. 

Singaporean professional golfer James Leow welcomed the return of the event, which the 28-year-old has watched as a spectator and played in four times.

The 2019 SEA Games gold medallist said: “It’s nice to have the event back after three years – everyone is constantly asking about it and it’s such a special event.

“It has a long history and has had many big golfing stars competing in it and winning it... It’s also the part that it’s a life-changing dream for all the professionals and aspiring professionals.”

Inaugurated in 1961, the Singapore Open was part of Asia’s very first professional golf circuit, which comprised a handful of tournaments in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia and Japan.

It became a fixture on the Australasian Tour for three seasons from 1993, before it joined the Asian Tour in 1996.

The event was co-sanctioned with the European Tour from 2009 to 2012, and later with the Japan Golf Tour from 2016 to 2022, which marked its most recent edition.

Past champions include Australia’s former world No. 1 Adam Scott (2005, 2006, 2010) and 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia (2018) from Spain.

With the tournament part of the International Series this year, Leow relishes testing himself against the best on the Asian Tour and LIV Golf.

“With the International Series, which are the elevated events on the Asian Tour, there’s more prize money, the winner gets more ranking points, and you’re competing against a deeper field of players including the LIV guys,” said world No. 1,417 Leow, who currently has full status on the China Tour and Asian Development Tour, and conditional status on the Asian Tour. 

“It’ll be a test to see where I’m at and as a competitor and athlete, we aim to win when we tee it up so that’s the goal.”

This year’s edition will return to the venue where the tournament was first played in 1961 until 1987, and then again in 1990, 1992, 1995 and 2000.

The last edition of the event, which was won by Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana, took place at Sentosa Golf Club.

It also adds to a vibrant golf calendar in Singapore this year, which includes the LIV Singapore in May and the World Amateur Team Championships that will take place in October. 

SGA president Tan Chong Huat said: “The Singapore Open is about to embark on an exciting new cycle and we are looking forward to working with our partners, the Asian Tour and Kweichow Moutai, to continue the legacy of our national open.

“Our national open is one of Singapore’s premier sporting events, and we are overjoyed it is returning to the calendar later this year with a dynamic new title sponsor at one of the country’s most acclaimed golfing venues, Singapore Island Country Club.”

The Singapore Open is part of the closing stretch of the 2025 Asian Tour season, which concludes with the Dec 10-13 Saudi Open. 

Cho Minn Thant, the Asian Tour’s commissioner and chief executive, said: “The Singapore Open is an integral part of Asian Tour history and one of our most-prized tournaments – so we are thrilled it is returning to our schedule later this year.

“The story of the Singapore Open runs in parallel with that of the Tour’s and, in many respects, we have grown hand in hand…

“With it set to be staged during the all-important closing stretch of the season, our members and fans in the region can look forward to a memorable climax.”