Kosaido Ladies end Asian golf tour in Bali
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Asia ladies golf circuit players are set to end their four-round tournament in the 2002 Kosaido Indonesia Ladies Open in Bali next week, the organizers announced here on Friday.
Around 90 foreign players will feature in the tournament, which is scheduled to run from Feb. 6 through Feb. 9.
The Bali tournament, which offers a total of US$60,000 in cash prizes, is the final series of the four-leg Asia Circuit sanctioned by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC).
The tournament will be played on the 7,024-yard Harada Golf Country Club, around 70 kilometers north from the province's capital city of Denpasar.
The Chinese Taipei and Thailand series have been completed while the Malaysian leg is still under way until Saturday.
The foreigners competing in Bali come from 12 countries. Japanese contenders will be the biggest squad with 48 players split into A and B categories.
The organizers confirmed that Nicole Jeray, the winner in Taiwan, would also turn up.
With no single Indonesian joining the tournament, the organizers said that the Kosaido Open, which will be the 15th edition to be staged in Indonesia, would aim to be a "training field" for local amateurs.
"It is disheartening that our players' skills are still below par compared to their foreign counterparts. We would like to see and assess how we would perform against them," Haryanto Dhanutirto, chairman of the Indonesian Amateur Golf Association (PGI), told a press conference here on Friday.
"For them, this will be one of the testing fields they must undergo to polish their skills," he said. Haryanto succeeded Sudomo at the PGI top position last year.
The organizers mentioned Neneng Karwati, Jamilah and Diana as three of the local contenders, with the rest from Bali, whose names had yet to be released.
But since their status is still amateur, they will not contend for the cash prize. They will be paired with a number of professional players in a pro-am tournament.
There are also two foreigner amateurs on the list -- Sarah Henderson of Hong Kong and Yun Yoo-jeong of Korea.
The local list excludes Titi Purwanti, Siti Retno Purwandi and Ani Iman, all of whom contributed a gold medal to the Indonesian contingent at the Kuala Lumpur 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last September.
"They couldn't get leave from their companies," Haryanto said.
The Kosaido Open is a stepping stone for the golfers to vie for a possible slot in a world tour. A past successful lineup of the tournament included Pak Se-ri of South Korea.
She moved up to the more prestigious tournaments like Japan and Korean Open before progressing to the LPGA tour.