Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid
KUCHING: The Professional Golf of Malaysia will add three more Asian Development Tour (ADT) events to its 2015 calendar in Malaysia.
They are the PGM-ADT Bukit Jawi Championship from Sept 16-19, the PGM-ADT Kinrara Championship from Oct 21-24 and the PGM-ADT Nilai Springs Championship from Nov 18-21.
“The Asian Tour has agreed to these additions and thanks to the strong partnership between PGM and Asian Tour, Malaysia will host a total of 15 ADT events this year,” said PGM chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid in a press statement on Thursday.
All three events will offer prize money of RM200,000 each with a top purse of US$8,889 and six Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points.
“The PGM recognises that ADT has been a great stepping stone for Malaysian pros to get into the ADT Tour. A few Malaysians have emerged winners and earned OWGR points through ADT events, and from their creditable performance in a few Asian Tour events,” said Sarji.
He said three Malaysian professionals had now earned high OWGR with Danny Chia at 403, Arie Ahmad Irawan at 410 and Nicholas Fung at 529 as at Aug 15, 2015.
“It is hoped that with these three additional ADT events at home, and competing in other ADT events and Asian Tour events between now and the second half of next year, the three professionals and those trailing behind will come within the top 300 places in OWGR to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics,” he added.