Olympic Open tees off on Tuesday

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The fourth Olympic Open golf championship will tee off on Tuesday at Cikarang Golf & Country Club in Bekasi, West Java, with as many as 88 golfers in contention for a record Rp 450 million (US$50,000) in prize money.

The participants include 17 qualifiers, who were assured of their places at the three-day tournament on Tuesday after they chalked up the required scores in the qualifying rounds.

"The qualifiers comprise nine pros and eight amateurs. We had around 128 players in today's qualifying rounds," chairman of the organizing committee Agoes Soelawah, told a media conference at the clubhouse.

"They are undoubtedly the best qualifiers. Although the number is small, we are assured of good quality from them," Agoes said.

The competitors have also come from Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Malaysia and Sweden.

Among the favorites will be defending champion Stephen Atako Lindskog of Sweden, 2000 champion Wang Ter Chiang and Chen Yuan Chi, both from Chinese Taipei.

Lindskog, who has lived in Indonesia for the last five years, also won the inaugural tournament in 1999.

The host's hopes will rest on two of Indonesia's top pro golfers in the national ranking list -- Maan Nasim and Kasiyadi.

As in previous years, this year's Olympic Open has also seen a consistent increase in cash prizes.

Au Bintoro, from the event organizer Olympic Golf International (OGI), said that they were poised to raise the prize money again for subsequent years in a bid to be included in the PGA Asian Tour.

"It will certainly be at least Rp 500 million next year," he said, adding they would have to provide a total of US$150,000 in cash prizes to realize their aspirations in 2005.

"The higher the prizes, the more top Asian players will be attracted and that is good for sponsorship," he said.