Korea to host first Champions Tour

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Korea to host first Champions Tour

Korea will become the first Asian country to host a U.S. Champions Tour event when the POSCO E&C Songdo Championship invades the friendly confines of the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Songdo, Gyeongi this weekend.

Several former PGA Tour golfers will be playing in the event.

The golf club is 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Seoul and will host the tournament and the tour, formerlyknown as the Senior tour, from Friday to Sunday.

The Champions Tour is open to golfers at least 50 years old.

Eight-time major champion Tom Watson headlines the field for the 54-hole tournament.

The 61-year-old Watson turned back the clock last year, when he contended for the Open Championship, one of four majors on the PGA Tour, before losing to Stewart Cink in a playoff. Watson has 13 victories on the Champions Tour.

Mark O’Meara, who swept up the Masters and the Open Championship in 1998, will also tee off in Songdo.

The 16-time Champions Tour winner is also famous for his friendship with Tiger Woods.

Other former major champions in the field include Bernhard Langer and Mark Calcavecchia.

The Korean contingent will be led by Choi Sang-ho, who has the most career wins on the Korean tour with 43.

The winner will take home 536 million won ($455,000), from the total purse of 3.5 billion won.

At a press conference held in June last year, Nicklaus announced that the tournament will be held annually through 2012.

Designed by the golf legend himself, Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea is a 72-par golf course measuring 7,257 yards.

Incheon will be busy with another golf tournament this week as the KLPGA Tour Daewoo Securities Classic 2010 will start on the same day at the Sky72 Golf Club.

The 500 million won event will feature Ahn Shin-ae, who aims to win her third tour of the season, as well as other notable KLPGA golfers like Yang Soo-jin, Ryu So-yeon, Choi Yoon-jin and Lee Bo-mi.


Yonhap
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