Goosen, Daly signs for brewery-backed KL Open
Goosen, Daly signs for brewery-backed KL Open
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
South African Retief Goosen, king of the European Tour for the
past two seasons, and America's John Daly will headline the
US$1.1 million Carlsberg Malaysian Open next year.
World number five Goosen and two-time Major winner Daly will
aim to get their year off to a winning start at the Mines Resort
and Golf Club from Feb. 20-23.
The tournament will be jointly sanctioned by the European Tour
and Asian PGA Tour for the fifth straight year.
The 33-year-old Goosen, winner of 17 international titles,
completed another highly successful season on the world stage
this year with two victories, one each on the European Tour and
on the US PGA Tour.
He also won the Dimension Data Pro-Am on home soil earlier
this year and late last season, he partnered Ernie Els to win the
EMC World Cup in Japan.
Goosen has featured in Malaysia's national Open previously
where he finished third in 1997 and tied fifth two years ago.
The big-hitting Daly, who won the Driving Distance category on
the US PGA Tour for the 11th consecutive year this season, played
in Malaysia last year where he finished tied 14th.
Last year, Daly ended a six-year title drought by winning the
BMW International Open in Germany.
That victory sparked renewed form to his game and he
challenged for honors on several occasions on the US PGA Tour
early this season where he finished fourth in the Phoenix Open
and Buick Invitational.
SYDNEY, Australia, golf promoter Tony Roosenburg on Monday
defended his decision to invite Daly back to Australia for two
tournaments next year, describing his wild antics at the recent
Australian PGA as "vintage Daly".
The explosive American was fined A$10,000 ($5,600) for abusing
an official and hurling his putter into a lake before being
disqualified for failing to sign his scorecard at the Coolum
event two weeks ago.
But Roosenburg, who is a principal of SFX which manages Daly,
said people come to see the 'Wild Thing' because he's
unpredictable and he would be welcomed at both the Heineken and
Johnnie Walker Classics in February, both co-sanctioned with the
European Tour.
"The attraction is only bigger for him now to come back to
Australia," Roosenburg said on Monday.
"It (his behavior at Coolum) was not good for the integrity of
the game you may say...but then again tennis players throw their
racquets every now and then.
"At the end of the day we are all human and it got a lot of
exposure."
Daly was confirmed as a starter for the A$2.85 million ($1.6
million) Johnnie Walker Classic at Perth's Lake Karrinyup Country
Club on Feb. 13-16.
Australian No.1 Robert Allenby was also locked in for the
Johnnie Walker event but has yet to commit to the Heineken, to be
held at Royal Melbourne from Jan. 30-Feb. 2.
Allenby and Daly will join an international field at the
Johnnie Walker including three of the world's top six players -
No.3 Ernie Els, No.4 Sergio Garcia and No.5 and defending
champion Retief Goosen.