Golf: Mission Hills to Host US$ 550,000 Hyundai China Ladies Open in December

Mission Hills will host the Hyundai China Ladies Open on its World Cup course next month.

The celebrated Jack Nicklaus layout at Mission Hills Shenzhen hosted the first significant international golf tournament ever held in China – the 1995 World Cup.

It was last used for a professional event in 2011 when Major winner Sandy Lyle captured the ISPS Handa Senior World Championship.

Now the venerable course – winner of multiple awards and heralded by authoritative US golf publication LINKS as "one of the 10 most significant and influential courses of the last 20 years" – will be hosting the new global crop of female golfing talent.

The world class field for the Hyundai China Ladies Open will be spearheaded by Korea’s Kim Hyo Joo, winner of this year’s Evian Championship, one of the five Majors in women’s golf. Kim is also one of four previous Hyundai China Ladies Open champions in the line-up at Mission Hills.

She will be joined by two more Korean winners on this year’s LPGA Tour – Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic champion Hur Mi Jung and Lee Mi Hyang, who triumphed in the Mizuno Classic.

Two recent winners from the Ladies European Tour (LET) are also teeing it up at Mission Hills Shenzhen. China’s Lin Xiyu dominated this month’s Sanya Ladies Open, winning by five strokes, while top Chinese Taipei amateur Cheng Ssu-Chia, just 17, captured the Xiamen Open last week on her LET debut.

The Hyundai China Ladies Open is being held at Mission Hills for the first time in its eight-year history. Once again co-sanctioned by the China LPGA and Korean LPGA, it will be contested from 12-14 December.

“We are honoured to be hosting the Hyundai China Ladies Open for the first time and see this tournament as the start of a long-term relationship between two prestigious global brands in Mission Hills and Hyundai,” said Mr Tenniel Chu, Vice Chairman, Mission Hills Group. “Mission Hills is a natural fit for this tournament given our proud record of achievement in women’s golf, including our innovative World Ladies Championship, the Annika Invitational junior girls tournament and our strong emphasis on family and friendship that encourages greater participation by female players.”

The Hyundai China Ladies Open week will begin on Monday 8 December with a qualifying tournament followed by pro-am events on the next two days. There will be an official practice day on Thursday 11 December followed by the 54-hole tournament.

“As the fifth largest automobile corporation in the world, Hyundai has been a leader in sports marketing and we have spared no effort in improving professional golf in China,” commented Mr Tan Dao Hong, President, Hyundai Motor Group (China) Ltd. “This year, we have increased the purse from US$400,000 to US$550,000 and we are delighted to have Mission Hills, with its famous World Cup Course and world class facilities, as our new tournament venue. Golf’s return to the Olympics in 2016 will further enhance its popularity and increase the number of professional golfers in China. We can expect to see the sport go from strength to strength.”

Other former winners of the Hyundai China Ladies Open appearing at Mission Hills Shenzhen will be 2008 champion Choi He Yong, two-time winner Kim Hye Youn (2010 and 2011), and defending champion Jang Ha Na.