Taoyuan, 2 September 2010 - The inaugural LPGA Taiwan has been scheduled to take place in Taoyuan, Taiwan from 27 - 30 October 2011 at the prestigious Sunrise Golf & Country Club with a world-class field of LPGA professionals competing for US$2 million in prize money.

The Golf Association of Republic of China (GAROC), the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) and event promoter IMG today announced that they will, for the first time in Taiwan's history, bring an LPGA-sanctioned event to Taiwan, with the highest prize money offered in any women's tournament ever staged in Taiwan.

The inaugural tournament will feature the top 80 LPGA members from the Official Money List, along with 10 host country exemptions. The 72-hole stroke play event with no cut will ensure that Taiwan golf fans do not miss watching all the LPGA players in action over the four days of the tournament, including the weekend.

"Taoyuan County is very honoured to bring the first LPGA-sanctioned event to Taoyuan, where the County's pride Tseng Yani was born, and also trained at the host venue, Sunrise Golf & Country Club," said John Wu, Mayor of Taoyuan County.

"The tournament will bring new excitement for the development of the women's game in Taiwan," said Tien-Ya Hsu, President of the GAROC. He noted that this is a perfect timing for Taiwan to host an LPGA tournament, with the recent victory from Tseng at the RICOH Women's British Open.

"Our vision is to promote the popularity of golf in Taiwan through staging an LPGA tournament, and also to recognize the achievements of all the Taiwan women's golfers actively playing on the LPGA Tour, including Candie Kung, Teresa Lu and Amy Hung," added President Hsu.

"We're eager to showcase the greatest women's athletes in the world to our growing global fanbase, and certainly the LPGA Taiwan tournament provides an ideal opportunity to do just that," said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan. "We express our gratitude to our friends at GAROC, and anticipate a collaborative relationship that enables us to fulfill the LPGA vision in Taiwan to inspire, empower, educate and entertain."

The LPGA is recognised as the official governing body for professional women's golf and has been making inroads in Asia. The selection criteria of LPGA, which has been staging more events in this part of the world as well as having a global reach, will enable IMG to secure the best international playing field. A stellar line up can be expected come October 2011.

"IMG prides itself in playing an integral role in developing the sport globally and our footprint of LPGA tournaments in Asia has been growing from strength to strength. We are excited that after staging many international men's tournaments in Taiwan especially at Sunrise Golf and Country Club, we can finally bring to Taiwan a world class women's tournament," said Robbie Henchman, Senior Vice President of IMG.
"With the support of GAROC and the LPGA, we can be assured that this inaugural event will deliver the best player field of international and local players in women's tournaments in the golf history of Taiwan."

More details about the event, including star players and local qualification criteria, will be announced closer to the event.

Inaugural LPGA Taiwan Scheduled in October 2011

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