Macao Open to return ‘better than ever’

The Macao Open is slated to return to Macau at the Macau Golf and Country Club on Oct. 12 to 14, an addition to the city’s line-up of sports events, as it returns “bigger and better than ever” for its 20th edition.

The Asian Tour and IMG has announced that gaming operator SJM Resorts, S.A is the new title sponsor for one of the tournaments on the Asian Tour, and is confirmed as the title sponsor for the next three editions of the SJM Macao Open.

Featuring on the schedule for the first time since 2017, when the tournament was won by India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar, this year’s 144-player field will compete for a prize fund of USD1million.

The Macau Golf and Country Club has staged every edition of the event with a roster of stars competing over the years, including major winners Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, Darren Clarke, John Daly, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh and Nick Price, as well as prolific international winners including Miguel-Angel Jimenez, Branden Grace, Ian Poulter and Thongchai Jaidee. Past winners have included Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie and China’s own Liang Wen-chong and two-time winner Zhang Lian-Wei.

Cho Minn Thant, CEO and commissioner of the Asian Tour said, “We are delighted to welcome back this important Asian Tour event to our schedule and are very grateful for the support of the Sports Bureau of Macao, SJM, the Macao Golf Association and our partners IMG for their work in reinstating this tournament. Historically it has been a very popular event amongst our players and I know this will be very welcome news for all.”

Pun Weng Kun, president of Sports Bureau, added, “Bringing back this long-running golf tournament to Macau has been an important priority and we are very happy to be able to support the return of this international event.”  LV