Olympic Open tees off on Tuesday

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.