2005 European Tour to Start with the Volvo China Open

The US$1 million Volvo China Open announced it will open the 2005 European Tour season at Shanghai Silport Golf Club on 25th-28th November.

At the Asian PGA annual awards ceremony in Bangkok last December, the club became the first to be voted ‘Best Venue’ for the second time in three years by the pros on the Asian PGA Tour. Now it will be the host venue for the Volvo China Open for the sixth year in a row.

‘We’re delighted to return to Silport,’ said Mel Pyatt, head of worldwide sponsorship for Volvo. ‘By joining the European Tour we, and the China Golf Association, have a much bigger event with worldwide television exposure and we need 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.’

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Volvo China Open. ‘A lot of national golf opens around Asia are 30 years or more old, so the Volvo China Open is young in comparison,’ says Alistair Polson, the event’s executive director. ‘However, it’s proving itself to be the fastest tracking and a lot of that is thanks to the dynamism of China’s economy and the support of the China Golf Association. 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.’

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