FedEx golf league set to began its seventh season with 26 teams

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The 2003 season of the six-series FedEx Corporate Golf League will kick off next month, with 26 teams set to compete through six different golf courses.

The league, in its seventh year since its induction in 1997, will be played as a team competition one day per month.

The matches will start at the Jagorawi Golf & Country Club on March 14.

In addition to returning to three other courses, Gunung Geulis Country Club, Riverside Golf Club and Klub Golf Bogor Raya, the league will visit new competition venues as matches will be played for the first time at Cikarang Golf & Country Club and Pondok Indah Padang Golf.

"It's great to be back. It's also good to be returning to some of the best golf courses in Southeast Asia, and in particular to have the opportunity to bring the event to the two different venues," said Alan Clarke from ATD Events Singapore, which is the co-organizer with Golf Links Indonesia.

The matches will also be played under different formats: System 123, Two-Men Texas Scramble, Two-Ball Better Ball, Four- Men Texas Scramble, FedEx Ball and System 36.

The participating, four-strong teams can change partners from different teams throughout the league.

"The points scored in each of the series will be accumulated to decide the league's winners at the end of the season," Isma Wootten, from Golf Links Indonesia, said.

With 26 teams involved, two fewer than last year, the league features a total of 112 players.

The organizers are providing a car in each series as the grand prize for a hole in one.

The league, Isma said, would also have a social mission, with the cash collected going to a charity foundation.

"We have not targeted how much we will be able to raise. However, last year we recorded the most when we collected Rp 20 million," Isma said, adding that they had yet to designate the beneficiary of the fund from this year's event.