Fifth JJGF Open Golf Championship set to tee off on Thursday
Fifth JJGF Open Golf Championship set to tee off on Thursday
JAKARTA (JP): The fifth JJGF Open Golf Championship will kick
off on May 10 with the pro-am tournament proceeding it one day
earlier at the Jagorawi Golf and Country Club in Bogor.
The tournament is offering Rp 200 million (US$18,350) prize
money, Rp 70 million less than the last tournament in September
2000.
Executive tournament director Takeshi Abe told The Jakarta
Post that the organizers were forced to reduce the prize money
due to the difficulty of finding sponsors.
"The worsening economic situation has prompted many big
companies to decide not to sponsor the event. That's why we have
to reduce the prize money. We only want to keep the tournament
going," Abe said.
"However, we hope that in the sixth tournament, scheduled for
September this year, we can increase the prize money to Rp 300
million."
The first tournament was held in December 1998, with Rp 70
million in prize money. In the second tournament in October 1999,
the organizers managed to double the prize money to Rp 150
million.
Starting from 2000, the Jagorawi Japan Golf Foundation (JJGF)
decided to stage the event twice a year offering Rp 200 million
and Rp 270 million respectively for the events staged in June and
September.
This year's tournament will open with a pro-am tournament on
Wednesday, the 36-hole cut off on Thursday and Friday and the
final on Saturday and Sunday.
Abe said that the foundation -- a nonprofit organization
comprising Japanese companies and individuals -- was aiming to
boost local players' performance in international events.
"Therefore, we always want to invite golfers from foreign
countries, especially from Japan. Sadly, only a few Indonesians
can win here."
However, Abe rejected the possibility of inviting big names in
golf to pit their skills against Indonesian players.
"We want Indonesian golfers to win. If we invite world-class
golfers to play here, they would definitely win the tournament.
Then, we wouldn't reach our goal of boosting local players'
performance."
Speaking about the use of the Jagorawi course -- which is
known for its level of difficulty -- Abe said there was a
possibility of moving the event to another course, but said that
considering that most players were based in Jakarta, the move
would be expensive.
Abe also expressed concern about the lack of tournaments in
Indonesia.
"JJGF can only stage the tournament twice (annually) but we
really hope that other companies or other countries'
organizations can follow our steps in helping Indonesian golfers
to reach international levels." (yan)