12 December 2007, Shenzhen, China: Four players share the lead on two under par after round one of the 2007 Faldo Series Asia grand final at Mission Hills Golf Club in China. Krobteeranon Chawinroj of Thailand, 21-year-old Chan Shih Chang from Chinese Taipei, 16-year-old Rashid Khan from India and Chan Tuck Soon of Malaysia all carded scores of 70 to lead the rest of the field by one.
Thailand’s Thidapa Suwannapura, 15, is the leading girl on one-under-par in a three-way tie for second place. One shot behind her with two rounds to go is last year’s girls’ champion, 15-year-old Hsieh Yu Ling of Chinese Taipei.
13-year-old Soon got off to the perfect start on the Faldo Course with birdies on the first three holes; however a couple of late bogies halted his charge. Likewise Chawinroj, 18, raced to the turn in two under par but could not improve on that score over the back nine.
Commented Chawinroj: “I’m good friends with last year’s winner, Nakarin [Ratanakul of Thailand] so I would love to follow in his footsteps and win this year. I’m pleased with the way I played today but feel I could have done better.”
Supported by Mission Hills, The R&A and UBS, and hosted by six-time Major winner Nick Faldo, a total of 64 golfers, boys and girls aged 12 to 21, are taking part in the 54-hole Faldo Series Asia (FSA) grand final (December 12-14) including 59 players from 10 different Asian countries and a further five winners from the Faldo Series grand final in Europe. 10 competitors alone are representing mainland China.
Also backed by Korn/Ferry, over 50 of the competitors have qualified from 10 FSA championships that took place in nine different Asian countries throughout 2007, including two in China and one in each of Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Hong Kong, UAE, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Singapore.
Sanctioned by the Asian Tour, the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation and the Guangdong Golf Association, Faldo is spending time with the finalists at Mission Hills, the world’s largest golf club as recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records, in order to pass on his advice and experience from over 30 years of playing at the highest level. Other experts from the world of golf are also educating the finalists with seminars on topics that have included life on Tour; rules and etiquette; fitness in golf; and working with the media.
In a bid by Faldo to simultaneously create access to the sport for a younger audience, local school-children are invited to Mission Hills for the final day on Friday, during which they will watch the finalists in action, see Nick Faldo take part in a unique skills challenge and have the opportunity to experience golf themselves in a special ‘Kids Zone’.
The FSA grand final is being played over three rounds on the highly-acclaimed Faldo Course, with a cut after 36 holes. The format is gross stroke-play with trophies awarded to the leading boy in the under-21, under-18 and under-16 categories and the leading girl in the under-21 and under-16 divisions. Boys are playing from the gold tees (6,500 yards) and girls from the blue tees (6,100 yards). The FSA trophy will be presented by Faldo to the overall champion, regardless of age or gender.
Not only are the title of FSA champion 2007, a place in the European grand final of the Faldo Series 2008 and valuable R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking points up for grabs; but it was also announced this week that on offer is a place in the Asian Tour’s Volvo Masters Asia 2008 for the leading boy and a start in a flagship event on the 2008 Ladies European Tour for the leading girl.
For information on the Faldo Series Asia visit www.nickfaldo.com
For information on Mission Hills, China visit www.missionhillsgroup.com
For further press information and images, please contact:
Tom Phillips Tracey Robertson
Faldo Series Asia Mission Hills Golf Club
Office: +852 2819 3364 Office: +86 755 2802 0888 (ext. 36030)
Email: tphillips@nickfaldo.com Email: traceyrobertson@missionhillsgroup.com
Note to editors:
About the Faldo Series Asia
Nick Faldo launched the Faldo Series Asia (‘FSA’) in January 2006 to bring opportunities to young people in Asia through golf and to help identify and nurture the region’s next generation of champions.
The FSA features an annual schedule of tournaments in different territories across the region. Over 60 players qualify for the FSA grand final, hosted by the six-time Major winner on the Faldo Course at Mission Hills Golf Club in China.
Combining experience with education, FSA tournaments give talented young golfers, male and female aged 11 to 21, the chance to benefit from top-level competition under strict tournament conditions and receive expert advice from guest speakers on golf related topics. Simultaneously local children gain access to golf at the tournaments through a programme of grass-roots activities and the chance to watch the competitors in action.
Part of Faldo’s charity, The Faldo Trust for Tomorrow’s Champions (Asia) Limited, and underwritten by Faldo himself, the FSA is supported by major partners Mission Hills, The R&A and UBS and patron Korn/Ferry International. It is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC).
About Mission Hills Golf Club, China
Founded in 1994 and located just 30 minutes drive from the Hong Kong border, Mission Hills is the World’s No. 1 Golf Club, accredited by the Guinness World Records™, with 12 signature courses, each designed by golf legends from the five continents: Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam, Vijay Singh, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Greg Norman, Jose Maria Olazabal, David Duval, David Leadbetter, Jumbo Ozaki, Pete Dye and Zhang LianWei. It is an exclusive gated residential community housing a world-class five-star hotel, spa and country club with the largest tennis facility in Asia. Mission Hills is also an infrastructure that spreads over 15 square kilometres of land and is the first home to the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in China.
Mission Hills has hosted many golf competitions and exhibition events, and is the proud venue for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup from November 2007 until 2018 for 12 consecutive years.
Hosting major tournaments has been a regular activity at Mission Hills and it all started with the first international golf tournament in China back in 1995, the 41st World Cup of Golf; followed by the Tiger Woods China Challenge in 2001 and the first two editions of the Dynasty Cup in 2003 and 2005. The Club is also the venue for the Mission Hills Asia Pacific Open Amateur Championship for the next 10 years and the “Home of the Faldo Series Asia.” Mission Hills was recently voted Golf Resort of the Year for the Rest of the World category by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO).
About The R&A
The R&A is golf’s world rules and development body and organiser of The Open Championship. It operates with the consent of 130 national and international, amateur and professional organisations, from almost 120 countries and on behalf of an estimated 30 million golfers in Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific and The Americas (outside the USA and Mexico). The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the game’s governing body in the United States and Mexico.
About UBS
UBS’s appointment as a ‘Major Partner’ of the Faldo Series Asia marks the bank’s commitment to helping the next generation of Asia Pacific golfing stars reach their potential and is the latest addition to its unrivalled stable of elite golfing properties in Asia.
UBS is one of golf’s most significant pan-regional sponsors of golf in Asia Pacific with a portfolio that includes the flagship UBS Hong Kong Open, the UBS Japan Golf Tour Championship at Shishido Hills, the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit and the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai, where it is the ‘Official Financial Services Provider’.
In addition, UBS is title sponsor of The UBS Golf Club, a leading golf television show broadcast throughout Asia on the ESPN STAR Sports network and The Golf Channel Japan in English, Mandarin and Japanese, according to territory.
Internationally, UBS has partnerships with THE PLAYERS Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the US PGA Tour and the women’s Evian Masters in Europe.
UBS is one of the world’s leading financial firms, serving a discerning global client base. As an organisation, it combines financial strength with an international culture that embraces change. As an integrated firm, UBS creates added value for clients by drawing on the combined resources and expertise of all its businesses.
UBS is the leading global wealth manager, a top tier investment banking and securities firm, and one of the largest global asset managers. In Switzerland, UBS is the market leader in retail and commercial banking.
UBS is present in all major financial centres worldwide. It has offices in 50 countries, with about 39% of its employees working in the Americas, 35% in Switzerland, 16% in the rest of Europe and 10% in Asia Pacific. UBS's financial businesses employ some 78,000 people around the world. Its shares are listed on the SWX Swiss stock exchange, the New York stock exchange (NYSE) and the Tokyo stock exchange (TSE). |