PGA Tour to tee off in Malaysia next year?

KUALA LUMPUR: Imagine watching the likes of Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker or world’s greatest golfer Tiger Woods teeing off in Kuala Lumpur.

Such imagination could turn into reality after Mailsport learnt there are efforts to host a PGA Tour in KL — the first of its kind outside the USA — in October next year.

While those associated with the event are still keeping it under wraps, Mailsport was told that the tournament will cost around US$15 million (RM51million) with a total prize money of US$7 million (RM24million).

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is expected to launch the event at the Mines on Monday. It is also said that Najib will use this tournament to further introduce his 1Malaysia concept to the rest of the world.

“The list of players has not been finalised at the moment but there are certainly efforts to bring in some of the big names in the scene. This is, after all, the biggest golfing event the country has ever seen,” said a source close to the event.

Another insider added: “Najib is very keen with the whole concept and this will be a treat to golf fans all over Malaysia. We’ll certainly see many famous faces at the event and hope this is a start to many bigger affairs.”

Malaysia will ink its name in the record books as being the first nation to host the PGA Tour outside the USUSA, further suggesting that the PGA Tour could go worldwide in time to come.

This season’s tour sees a handful of events left including the PGA Tour Qualifying tournament in Florida (Dec 2-7), Chevron World Challenge in California (Dec 3-6) and The Shark Shootout in Florida (Dec 11-13).

Haresh Deol
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 13:25:00

Posted by OM on 5:17 PM. Filed under Breaking News, CIMB Classic .You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0