Riau course seeks to host major events

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Bintan, Riau Islands

With the holding of the Indonesia Open 2005 golf tournament in Jakarta last week, a golf course in the Riau archipelago is also sizing up the options of hosting a major event.

"We do want to host the Indonesia Open in which top professional golfers play," Ria Bintan Golf Club general manager Jeffrey Low told The Jakarta Post, who was invited to visit the club recently during a tsunami benefit golf tournament.

"I would like to hear directly the impression of professional golfers about our Ocean course, which was recently conferred the title of the Best Golf Course in Indonesia by Asian Monthly Magazine.

Esthetically, the club on Bintan island has the goods, with its two challenging hilly golf courses offering beautiful views of the South China Sea and patches of forest.

It would also be an easy destination to reach for fans from Jakarta, and also Singapore, with regular 45-minute ferry crossings from the city-state as well as from the favored weekend playground of Batam.

South African golf legend Gary Player designed the 18-hole par-72 Ocean Course (6,470 meters) and the nine-hole par-36 Forest Course (2,957 meters).

Low is quick to point out the other awards Ria Bintan has won since its opening in 1988, such as inclusion among the top 100 golf courses by U.S. Golf Digest in 1999.

One year later, it was awarded the 1st runner up best par-five in Asia for Ocean Course hole eight and fourth runner up best course in Asia by Asian Golf Monthly.

In 2001, the club won the best golf course and best golf club in Asia presented by Golf Asia, and has since been recognized with several other distinctions.

Its courses are no pushovers. Asian Golf Monthly Singapore has written about the tricky par-five seventh, with the lake sandwiched between a lake to the right, ocean to the rear and sand on the left, as well as the ninth, with players forced to negotiate an inlet to a long, narrow green, with water lurking at left and bunkers and hazards to the right.

Development in the Riau archipelago has been rapid in recent years, leading to fears that the clump of new resorts catering to vacationers are a blight on the environment.

Low said the golf courses were constructed to preserve the natural environment as much as possible.

"You can listen to the birds sing, sometimes you can find monkeys," Low said during a tour of the site.

Aside from the golf course, the area, owned by Singapore-based Keppel Group, also has Club Med Ria Bintan, a beach-front resort offering a wide range of activities.

However, it may be a few more years before the course hosts top players like Colin Montgomerie and Thongchai Jaidee, who participated in the Indonesia Open.

"Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia, therefore we will hold the Indonesia Open two or three times in Jakarta before we move the tournament to other provinces," Indonesian Golf Association (PGI) chairman Haryanto Danutirto said.