Indonesia Open expects huge turnout
Indonesia Open expects huge turnout
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Golf lovers, enjoying the rare chance to see the sport's top
names, are expected to turn out in droves for the Standard
Chartered Indonesia Open in West Jakarta later this month.
The March 24-27 event at the Cengkareng Golf Club Jakarta has
the goods to draw all the attention.
It is the first sanctioned European Tour stop to be held in
the country and a field of 144 -- including Colin Montgomerie of
Scotland and Asian player of the year Thongchai Jaidee -- will
compete for a total purse of US$1 million.
Organizers estimate the cosanctioned European Tour and Asian
Tour event will draw 20,000 spectators, a figure based on the
turnout for similar golf events in Malaysia and Singapore.
"If the neighboring countries are able do that, so are we,"
Cengkareng Golf Club Jakarta general manager Mark Williams said
on Sunday.
An estimated 600 million more TV viewers around the world are
expected to watch as coverage of the tournament is beamed into
their homes by sports channels.
"Indonesia will be in the spotlight of golf in the world for
four days," he said.
"It will be a fantastic event for Indonesian people as the
first time they will see this caliber of golf players come here."
The European Tour committee and Cengkareng Golf Course began
talks about the possibility of having the event here about seven
months ago.
"But the confirmation to hold the Indonesia Open as a fully
sanctioned European Tour event only arrived three months ago."
The course is strategically located in the Soewarna Business
Park in the the compound of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
The 18-hole par-72, 6,031-meter golf course was designed to
championship standard by San Francisco-based Walter Raleigh
Stewart, a multidisciplinary design company specializing in golf
courses and country clubs.
"I think that the good access of our venue to the airport, it
being close to a big hotel (the Sheraton Bandara) and the good
condition of the golf course led us to being selected as a
European Tour event this year," he said.
The club is preparing spectator stands and a media center, the
latter with 60 work stations for journalists.
"The necessary preparation and renovation are still under
way," Williams said.
As a precaution, the club is also hiring a rainman to avoid
weather delays during the tournament.
"Our club usually hires a rainman in every tournament held
here. But we are optimistic that the weather would be friendly to
players as the event will be held at the end of the rainy
season."
Williams said there were allocations for local players to
compete with the sport's leaders.
"The selection of players is conducted by the Indonesian Golf
Association (PGI)," he said.
"It will be a good experience for Indonesian players to
participate in such a big event."