PGA Tour in Asia 12:00, 27/10/2017

International superstars led by world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, third-ranked Hideki Matsuyama, world No. 4 Justin Thomas and Major champions Jason Day and Adam Scott are amongst the big names headed full speed to the Far  East, long regarded as the next bastion of growth for the game. The US$7 million CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia will get Asia’s festival of golf rocking and rolling when the only PGA TOUR tournament in Southeast Asia returns for its eighth edition from October 12-15.

Dustin Johnson

Hideki Matsuyama

The tour then breaks new ground with its frst offcial FedExCup tournament in South Korea when the US$9.25 million CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES makes its debut. CJ Corporation, one of the nation’s largest conglomerates with a global vision, signed a 10-year deal to host what will be one the world’s most lucrative golf tournaments. Day, Scott and Thomas, who has enjoyed a standout 2016-2017 campaign with fve wins including a frst Major triumph, will headline the CJ tournament which will also feature Korea’s newest star Si Woo Kim, winner
of The Players Championship in May.

The three-tournament extravaganza concludes with Asia’s lone and prized World Golf Championships showpiece, the US$9.75 million WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai where Japan’s rising son Matsuyama will defend his title against a stellar feld - which includes top-ranked Johnson, winner of the tournament in 2013.
Against a backdrop of global stars headlining the exciting stretch of events which form the early 2017-18 PGA Tour Fall schedule, the Asian Tour’s leading golfers such as S.S.P. Chawrasia, Scott Hend and young talent Phachara Khongwatmai, will have every opportunity to shine under the international spotlight.
The CIMB Classic, sanctioned with the Asian Tour, will include the leading 10 players from the region’s Order of Merit in addition to two Malaysians, while the CJ CUP could see up to 20 Korean or Korean descent golfers going head-to-head with the game’s top stars as it lives up to the tournament’s tagline of “Bridge to Realization”. A victory at Jeju island will lead to a coveted PGA Tpur card and a world of earning and playing opportunities.
Similarly, leading players from Asia and China will also be exempt into the WGC-HSBC Champions where a golfer like Li Haotong, famous for his third-place fnish at the British Open in July, can propel his career to America with a home victory. Since making its debut in 2005, the HSBC Champions has celebrated a myriad of international winners in a tournament many has labeled as “Asia’s Major”. Indeed, it’s going to be a mouth-watering month of golf in Asia.