Oriental China Ladies' Open slated for December

• Source: Global Times
• [06:07 November 11 2009]
• Comments

By Wang Fanfan

The General Administration of Sports (GAS) announced Tuesday that the 2009 Oriental China Ladies Open will be held in Xiamen from December 16 to December 19. This female golf event is also the showdown of the Ladies Professional Golf Tour this year.

With a reward of $250,000, this Golf Open attracts 144 professional players from South Korea, US, Australia, South Africa, Thailand and Taiwan, among other countries and regions, with the top 40 female professional tour players from China and South Korea participating in the event.

Since golf became an official event in the 2016 and 2020 summer Olympics, the GAS has paid special attention to this year's ladies open, as an important opportunity to review the levels of Chinese female golf players in competition with their European and American counterparts.

According to Zhang Xiaoning, director of the multi-ball administrative center of the GAS, female golf is the breakthrough for China to compete in the international arena. Developing female golf will be targeted as a long-term goal.

Tseng-Kwan Pen, CEO of Oriental Golf, called on the 50,000 caddies working at China's 500 golf courses in China, of whom 99 percent are female, to develop their skills and join the professional team.

"For now, these caddies earn some 3,000 yuan ($439) a month, but when they are good enough to enter the international competition, their salary will be millions a year," Pen said.

Pen said he also wants the government to develop more green spaces into golf courses.

"As billions of yuan in tax is used in the maintenance of green spaces, if they were turned into public golf courses, the tax would be saved, more employment would be provided, plus the next generation of golf players would be raised," Pen added.

"We are negotiating with the tax department, we hope to reduce the luxury tax on building golf courses. By reducing the cost, more people will be able to afford to and participate in this sport. Some provinces have made some progress, like Guangdong and Liaoning," commented Cui Daling, vice minister of the GAS.