Busan to Host 'LPGA International Busan' Tournament for Three Years from Next Year

An LPGA tournament will be held in Busan beginning next year. The event venue will be the Asiad Country Club where golfers played the game during the 2002 Busan Asian Games.

Suh Byung-soo, mayor of Busan, Gu Young-so, president of Asiad Country Club, Mike Whan, commissioner of the LPGA and Jon Podany, chief commercial officer of the LPGA announced that Busan will host an LPGA tournament for three years from next year in a signing ceremony in honor of the LPGA Tour Busan in the conference room of Busan City Hall at 11 am on March 11. The tournament will be held as part of the Asian Swing in October of next year and the LPGA's top 70 players will compete for US$ 2 million in prize money.

At the moment, LPGA tournaments take place in seven countries in Asia -- Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Busan will host a new LPGA tournament, with Asian events gaining in popularity and major cities in Asian countries having fierce competition to catch tickets to host the tournament.

As a result, Korea will hold two LPGA competitions with the KEB Hana Bank Championship being the other one. Korea is the second Asian country to host two LPGA tournaments after China.

The Asiad Country Club struck a golf course renewal deal with world-renowned golf course designer Rees Johns Design Company while inking an official partnership agreement with the LPGA. The Asiad Country Club is planning to make an improvement to the course and reopen it in the summer of next year. After the renovation, the golf course will be recognized as LPGA International and the first LPGA golf course outside of the US and it will be renamed LPGA International Busan.

The Asiad Country Club will carry out additional projects such as launching an Asian qualifying event for LPGA regular tour seasons and golf academy and coach training programs for the development of world-class golfers.

"The event, which will be broadcast live in more than 170 countries, will be the biggest international sporting event in Busan since the Asian Games in 2002," mayor Suh said. Considering 50 billion won in economic effects on the Busan area, we expect about 1.5 trillion won in economic effects over the next three years."