Opinion | Left Field: Jewel in crown loses its lustre
The city's oldest professional sporting event, the Hong Kong Open, will find it hard to attract top golfers from next year
There was both good and bad news for organisers of the UBS Hong Kong Open this week. The good was the government saw fit to grant the tournament HK$15 million from the Mega Events Fund, money which will be used to pay appearance fees for big names, including world No 1 Rory McIlroy, who has confirmed he will return to defend his title. The bad news is that next year many of the top golfers might omit Hong Kong from their crowded schedules. This is because the European Tour has moved the penultimate event in the "Race To Dubai" to Turkey, which will host a US$7 million event.
Next month's Hong Kong Open is the penultimate stop on the European Tour's international schedule - 46 tournaments in 24 destinations worldwide - culminating in the lucrative season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai that offers prize money of US$8 million.
As such, Hong Kong plays an important role as the money won at Fanling counts hugely in the order of merit contest, otherwise known as the Race To Dubai. Only the top 60 golfers on the money list qualify for Dubai, giving Hong Kong an importance way beyond its stature - it offers a purse of only US$2 million this year, which is peanuts in the bigger picture - as players at both ends of the spectrum try to cement their positions.
For instance, this year's money list leader is McIlroy. If he were to finish at the top of the standings after the climax, he stands to pocket a bonus of US$1 million. The other nine players in the top 10 will share the remaining bonus pool of US$2.75 million, according to their ranking.
While winning in Hong Kong might not make a huge difference to players like McIlroy, who are guaranteed a spot in Dubai, they turn up as it helps to enter a tournament with your game honed.
The Hong Kong Open, jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour, has held the privileged spot of being the penultimate event in the Race to Dubai for the past few years but it is believed this will be the last year of the existing contract between our tournament and the European Tour, which has now embarked on a different strategy.