HONG KONG, 29 January 2015 (HK Golfer News Wire) - The Hong Kong Ladies Open 2015 will now take place on 5-7 June 2015 at The Hong Kong Golf Club (Old Course), which is the main organiser and venue sponsor. This will be a major ladies professional golf tournament to be held in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Ladies Open 2015 will be the first world class ladies professional open golf tournament to be held at The Hong Kong Golf Club and the players’ results will be included in the Rolex Rankings. A total of 108 players (100 professionals, 8 amateurs) from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and other Asian countries will compete for the total prize money of US$120,000.
Ian Gardner, General Manager, The Hong Kong Golf Club, says:
"The Hong Kong Ladies Open 2015, which The Hong Kong Golf Club initiated and is the venue sponsor for, is one of the most exciting and anticipated events on the golf calendar. It will be staged through the cooperation of five major golf associations from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and other countries, and will be the first world class ladies professional open tournament staged in Hong Kong. Its results will be included in the Rolex Rankings. Last year, we celebrated the 125th anniversary of the HKGC and this tournament will be one of the most important in the club’s illustrious history. Annually, the Hong Kong Golf Association holds around 12 tournaments at the HKGC, including the Hong Kong Seniors Open Amateur Championship, the Hong Kong Open Amateur Championship, and other large scale amateur tournaments. We have laid down deep roots in Hong Kong and we actively promote the development of local golf at the grassroot level. We attach special importance to nurturing young golfers, not only by providing a practice venue for the national squad players and other juniors every week, but by also holding junior and amateur tournaments and events with the HKGA. This year’s Hong Kong Ladies Open will see the involvement of a number of highly talented young amateur players. Taking part in the tournament will give them a ladder on which to step up into world class golf, serve as testament to their talent and their hard work, and see them compete confidently against some of the best players in Asia. We hope that more generous people will offer to join the ranks of sponsors and increase support for up-and-coming local players.”
Mark Chan, Vice President, Hong Kong Golf Association, says:
"Through the staging of the Hong Kong Ladies Open 2015, the HKGA hopes to give a chance to Hong Kong's top amateurs to take part in a sizable tournament and give them an opportunity to increase their knowledge and experience. As the promotion of golf is the main aim of the HKGA, this is also a good opportunity to promote our sport to the local community. We will be inviting primary school children from our ‘Golf For Schools’ programme to attend the event and hopefully inspire them to become the stars of tomorrow."
Koichi Kato, President Commissioner, Ladies Asian Golf Tour, says:
"This will be the third time the LAGT has staged an important ladies professional golf tournament in Hong Kong and the venue is the historic Hong Kong Golf Club. Through 33 years, LAGT has consistently staged tournaments in Asian cities, striving to promote ladies professional golf in countries and regions that have no local Ladies Professional tournaments. The aim is to let more junior golfers, lady professoinal golfers and amateurs have the chance to take part in an international profesisonal golf competition."
Karen Lee, Secretary General, the LPGA of Taiwan, says:
"We are very happy that The LPGA of Taiwan is engaging and cooperating with LAGT and Hong Kong Golf Association. The results of the Hong Kong Ladies Open will be included in the Rolex Rankings and this is very important for golfers from Taiwan, the Asian Tour and Hong Kong. We are really pleased to be involved and we have preliminary confirmed that the top 30 pro golfers on the Taiwan Tour prize money list in 2014 will play at the Hong Kong Ladies Open."
Daniel Liu, Chairman, the Hong Kong Professional Golfers' Association, says:
"I have looked forward to this tournament for a long time. Hong Kong has always lacked a venue to stage a sizable open tournament so we are very pleased to have won the full support of The Hong Kong Golf Club. This isn’t just a first rate course, it also has ample supporting facilities. While junior golfers don’t attach too much importance to tournament prize money, they need competitions like this to test their mettle. If Hong Kong could host several sizable tournaments each year, junior golfers would have a target to aim for and this would have a very positive effect in terms of promoting the sport and nurturing talented golfers.”