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)