Shanghai Silport Golf Club, recently named as ‘Host Venue of the Year 2003’’ by the Asian Tour professionals for the second time in three years, will be the appropriate venue for the first Volvo China Open to be jointly sanctioned between the Asian Tour and The European Tour from November 25-28, 2004.
Silport lifted the prestigious venue award at the Asian Tour awards ceremony in Bangkok last December, and now the Asian Tour players who again voted for Silport and The European Tour’’s Members will have the opportunity to experience this outstanding course later this year in the US$1,000,000 tournament, which will be the first counting event towards the 2005 Volvo Order of Merit.
This will be the sixth successive year that Silport has hosted the Volvo China Open, and the tournament celebrates its tenth anniversary in the homeland of the defending champion, Lian-Wei Zhang, who last November beat Thailand’’s Thaworn Wiratchant by two strokes with an 11 under par total of 277, to capture the title.
Previous winners at Silport are Kyi Hla Han of Myanmar (1999), England’’s Simon Dyson (2000), Charlie Wi of Korea (2001) and Australian David Gleeson (2002). The first Volvo China Open was staged in 1995 at Beijing International Golf Club when Raul Fretes of Paraguay became the inaugural champion.
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"We are delighted to return to Silport," said Mel Pyatt, President and CEO of Volvo Event Management. "By joining The European Tour we have a much bigger event with worldwide television exposure and we needed a venue of the highest quality. Silport has always been good but now it has matured into a top class layout with some of the best putting surfaces I've come across in Asia."
Kyi Hla Han, who won the first Volvo China Open to be staged at Silport five years ago and who has now been appointed as Chairman of the Board for the new players' organisation - the Asian Tour - also lauded the Silport course.
He said: "Having won there in 1999, I'm personally delighted about the return to Silport. It's an excellent layout and one of the most popular with the players. Volvo's support over the years has been wonderful and we are pleased to see their support for the new players' organisation, the Asian Tour. We all hope that we can move forward together and the inclusion of China's national open as a joint sanctioned event is a big boost."
George O’’Grady, Deputy Executive Director of The European Tour, attended last year's event at Silport and was full of praise. He said: “Shanghai Silport is an excellent venue and was in superb condition for the 2003 Volvo China Open. We are delighted that China’’s national open golf championship, that has been so well supported by Volvo for ten years, will be the opening event to our 2005 season. Seeing the way China’’s economy is moving forward, I am sure the Volvo China Open will become a landmark fixture in future European Tour schedules."
This year also marks the tenth anniversary of the Volvo China Open. "A lot of the National Opens around Asia are 30 years or more old so the Volvo China Open is young in comparison," said Alistair Polson, the event's Executive Director.
"However, it is proving itself to be the fastest tracking and a lot of that is thanks to the dynamism of China's economy. A country's national sports championships usually thrive when its economy is robust and moving forward fast. The forecast for China's economic growth is good so we can forecast some very good years ahead for the Volvo China Open."
Shanghai Silport Golf Club is located around 90 minutes from the centre of the thriving city of Shanghai and 50 minutes from Hongqiao Airport. Situated next to a lake, Silport has recently expanded to a 36 hole facility with a striking Spanish hacienda-style clubhouse.
