Professional golf will return to the city twice in 2023 as part of the Asian Tour’s expanded schedule, with a new tournament pencilled in for March and the Hong Kong Open expected to return in November. Despite government plans to build houses on a significant portion of Hong Kong Golf Club leaving the long-term future of top-flight events in the city hanging in the balance, the Tour has made it the seventh stop for 2023. The Tour’s announcement on Friday of its new schedule only covered the first part of the year until the beginning of May, but a spokesman for the Fanling course said plans were being made to stage the Open in its traditional slot in November. Elite Singapore golf club entry fee soars to US$618,000 thanks to rich Chinese “With the welcome easing of travel restrictions into the city, the club is extremely keen to put Hong Kong firmly back on the international golfing map as soon as possible,” the spokesman said. “Whilst we are planning on staging the Hong Kong Open in its traditional end-of-year spot, we are currently working with the Asian Tour on a new event to be held at the club in late March. “Details of this will be forthcoming, but there is undoubtedly great desire and excitement to welcome back world-class golfers and international and local spectators to the fairways of Fanling after a three-year hiatus.” March’s tournament, which runs from the 23rd to 26th and boasts a US$1 million prize fund, will kick off a bumper four weeks of sport in the city, with the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens taking place the following weekend, and the Fairbreak Invitational women’s cricket competition running from April 3 to 16. Cho Minn Thant, the Tour’s commissioner and CEO, said his organisation was “absolutely thrilled” with how the year was shaping up and hailed it as “the strongest season in the history of the Asian Tour”. The Tour’s new season will begin in early February with the PIF Saudi International, the most lucrative event on the schedule, with a US$5 million prize fund. In all there will be 11 tournaments over the first 14 weeks of the season, with the Middle East staging the first three stops as the International Series continues with visits to Oman and Qatar. These will be the first of an expanded 10 International Series events in 2023, with further stops to follow in Hua Hin, Thailand, in March, and Cam Ranh, Vietnam, the following month. The New Zealand Open returns in the first week of March after its Covid-enforced break, then the DGC Open takes place in Delhi a week before the Tour’s arrival in Hong Kong. “We are very proud to announce the start of the 2023 season, hot off the heels of a tremendous 2022,” Cho said. “It is fantastic to see us carry the momentum of the season we have just completed and start the new season at full pace. “The Asian Tour is absolutely thrilled with how the schedule looks. It reaches a wide range of exciting destinations, offers extremely lucrative purses, world-class venues, and a great balance of established and new events.”
