Paul McGinley is looking forward to returning to the Ballantine’s Championship, to be staged at Pinx Golf Club in Jeju, Korea from April 23-26, after finishing third in last year’s iinaugural tournament.
Champions Galore in starting line-up at PMG Promoted Ballantine's Championship
Korean golf fans will witness a parade of champions when the Ballantine’s Championship tees off this Thursday.
No fewer than 45 players who have won European Tour events will take part in the €2.1 million showpiece at Pinx Golf Club on the island of Jeju.
Leading the way will be three-time Major winner Ernie Els, world No.9 Henrik Stenson, defending champion Graeme McDowell and world No.15 Lee Westwood.
Legend of the game, former Masters champion Fred Couples is also in the stellar line-up.
“We have a very strong field this year and you’ll have to play well to win. Everything about the tournament was good last year: great sponsor, great hotel and great course. I’m very much looking forward to it.” Paul McGinley
Paul McGinley will be one of seven Ryder Cup stars on display and is looking forward to returning to Pinx after a strong showing in last year’s inaugural Ballantine’s Championship.
The Irishman finished third, seven shots behind McDowell – who eventually won in a playoff – and India’s Jeev Milka Singh.
“My memory of last year is really that Graeme and Jeev ran away with the tournament,” said McGinley. “They turned it into a two-man shootout and I was playing a different tournament, which I managed to win!
“It’s a great golf course. I think the conditions will be warmer [this year’s tournament is six weeks later in the calendar] but there will be more rough on the golf course and it will be a tough test if the wind blows strongly.
“It’s a well designed course, and there is an element that you have to think your way round there.
“We have a very strong field this year and you’ll have to play well to win. Everything about the tournament was good last year: great sponsor, great hotel and great course. I’m very much looking forward to it.”
The Ballantine’s Championship – to be staged from April 23-26 – will once again be co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours and Korea PGA.
Asia will be strongly represented with the continent’s leading players gearing up to take on Europe’s big guns.
Seven of the 45 past European Tour winners at Pinx will be from Asia – Thai trio Thongchai Jaidee, Chapchai Nirat and Thaworn Wiratchant, China’s Liang Wenchong, India’s SSP Chowrasia, Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen Tang and Mardan Mamat from Singapore.
The tournament will also see the battle for the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit intensify – no few than 19 of the top 20 in the current standings will be teeing it up at Pinx.
Korean-American Anthony Kang – presently leading the way with season earnings of US$372,469 – will be looking to extend his lead but knows the likes of Thongchai, Indian ace Jyoti Randhawa, Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita and Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng will be hot on his heels at Pinx.
“The field at the Ballantine’s Championship is truly a world class one,” said Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han. “Our Asian Tour players have shown that they are fully capable of holding their own against world class players.
“There is undoubtedly unprecedented depth and quality in the Asian Tour and we are now making great progress in addressing the imbalance that existed for so long between Asia and the rest of the world.”
A strong Korean contingent will be led by talented 17-year-old Noh Seung Yul, currently ninth in the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit. Noh is looking to build on his remarkable 2008 rookie season when he won the Midea China Classic and claimed three runner-up finishes.
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