50 years after first landing in Hong Kong, the LPGA Tour is back and bigger than ever
Golf’s best expected to head to Clear Water Bay in March for Futu Ladies World Championship and a prize purse that is the richest in Asia
The last time the LPGA Tour was in Hong Kong, Concorde arrived at Kai Tak Airport for the first time, the famous floating restaurant Jumbo Kingdom was just weeks old, and Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club was still drawings in a course designer’s sketchbook.
Nearly 50 years since Judy Rankin held off Hisako Higuchi to win the Colgate-Hong Kong Open in November 1976, the Tour announced its return to the city with the Futu Ladies World Championship, a US$3.4 million prize fund and multi-year partnership as part of a renewed Asian spring swing.
The Clear Water Bay club will stage the 78-player tournament next March, the final leg of a three-event stop in the region, following on from the Honda LPGA Thailand and the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
A double announcement in Boston on Wednesday ahead of the FM Championship, and then at the Hong Kong venue little more than 12 hours later confirmed an event organisers hope will attract the best in the world.
Among them will be Hong Kong’s Tiffany Chan Tsz-ching, the first professional from the city to earn a spot on the women’s Tour. Undergoing a tough time recently, Chan has been handed a wild card for the course she calls home.
“This event checks every box we look for - a championship-calibre course, a market ready for the Tour, a perfect fit within our spring Asia swing, and partners who share our vision,” Chris Madsen, the LPGA’s managing director for the Asia-Pacific, said.