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Tuesday October 27, 2009

Bid to lure Tiger Woods to Johor Open next year

By S. RAMAGURU

JOHOR BARU: The Iskandar Johor Open could be the richest golf tournament in Malaysia next year and on the invite list is world No. 1 Tiger Woods.

This year’s event saw the prize money increased to US$1mil from US$600,000 in 2008. For next year, the organisers have increased the purse to US$2.2mil, which is bigger than the US$2mil offered at the Malaysian Open this year.

The organising secretary, Manjit Majid Abdullah, said yesterday: “We have already agreed to the increase in the prize money.

“And to make it a memorable event, we hope that Woods will accept our invitation to play in the tournament. In fact, we are already starting talks with him.”

Retief Goosen was the star draw last year and duly went on to win the title. The South African was back for the just concluded tournament at the Royal Johor Country Club and along came Asian Tour honorary member K.J. Choi.

The South Korean, who is based in the United States, clinched the title in a tournament reduced to three rounds because of bad weather.

“It was a good tournament and I am glad that I was invited to play here. The support was tremendous and the atmosphere great. Of course winning it has made my first trip here to Johor a memorable one,” said Choi.

Manjit added that with next year’s tournament sanctioned by both the Asian and European Tours, they can expect more quality players to be in the field.

He added that they had made a request to keep the tournament in October and close to the Singapore Open and the HSBC Championship in Shanghai.

“There is no doubt that the tournament is growing in popularity each year and we will set the date next year once we finalise the other details,” said Manjit.

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