Taiwan will put its name on the world's golfing map this week with the US$1.5 million BMW Asian Open starting tomorrow.
Asia's richest golf tournament outside Japan, the Asian Open at the Ta Shee Golf and country Club, near Taipei, is packed with top-class players from around the world.
A strong contingent of European Tour professionals have arrived for the event, which is jointly sanctioned by the European Tour and is also the 17th stop on this year's Asian PGA circuit.
PHOTO: AFP
Led by winning Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance, other squad members teeing off tomorrow are Irishman Padraig Harrington, England's Paul McGinley and the man tipped to be the next European Ryder Cup captain -- US Masters winner Ian Woosnam from Wales.
Harrington said yesterday he felt he was in reasonable form. "I played the skins [in Singapore] on Sunday and I finished second again, as usual.
"I need a bit more practice as I'm not quite there. I just need to do a few things and I'll be okay."
He said it was his first time in Taiwan. "I was expecting it to be warmer! I didn't bring any sweaters and will have to get some jackets.
"When I was flying in, I was surprised to see so much agriculture land over here. In many respects, it was like flying home over Ireland," Harrington said.
The top three finishers from last year will once again do battle, as Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal and currently Asia's finest player Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand will try to outmuscle last year's winner Jarmo Sandelin of Sweden.
Joining the fray are Malaysia's Danny Chia, who is having a breakthrough season and cleared up at the Acer Taiwan Open earlier this season. Mynamar's Kyi Hla Han, who was an early leader at the same event will hope to go all the way this time.
Crowd favorite "Long" John Daly -- so-called because of the length of his drives -- will aim to repeat his success at the BMW International Open in Germany last year, when he won his first major event in six years.
The US player has struggled with off-course distractions but said he was happy to be a contender yesterday after touching down in Taiwan.
"I've had my ups and downs, but I've got through them and I'm fine with where I am now," Daly said.
He also talked about his debut album, which will be released Nov. 25. "My Life is not a sad song, it's about life, it's a broken song.? You will know what it's about when you listen to it."
Locally, all eyes will be on Chen Tze-chung of Taiwan, who has been doing well on the lucrative Japan Tour. Tsai Chi-huang (
Also teeing up for Taiwan will be Yeh Wei-tze (
Asian PGA Tour top-10 leaders Arjun Atwal of India, David Gleeson of Australia and Rick Gibson of Canada, are also lined up for the Open.
Jaidee heads the rankings after a second-place finish to Colin Montgomerie of Scotland in the recent US$1 million TCL Classic in China.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later