Golf’s inaugural Tour was won by rising Swedish star Caroline Hedwall

                                                              Watch Live Golf

Golf’s inaugural Tour-style event was won by rising Swedish star Caroline Hedwall, in a gripping finish that saw her win by three points from fellow Swede Helen Alfredsson.Hailed as golf’s equivalent to Twenty20 Cricket, in that it delivers a high excitement version of the sport in a short time frame, PowerPlay Golf’s two-flag ‘risk and reward’ format was played out on nine specially selected holes on The Celtic Manor Resort’s Twenty Ten course.Paula Creamer and Victor Dubuisson set the early pace but Hedwall finished with three PowerPlay birdies for 6 points each to sprint from the pack and take victory.“That was a lot of fun. I was in the middle of the pack with three to play but knew I still had a chance with PowerPlays in reserve. I was very nervous on the first tee but playing with Ian Poulter and Helen Alfredsson was a great experience,” said Hedwall, who picked up a £100,000 first prize – 50% of which she is donating to the Swedish Golf Federation.The victory caps a memorable few days for Hedwall who secured her first Ladies European Tour victory yesterday at the Allianz Slovak Ladies Open.Fans at Celtic Manor and at home on TV saw a stellar 12-player field alongside Hedwall, Alfredsson and Creamer  including golfing legend Gary Player, U.S. Open Champion Graeme McDowell ,Major Champions John Daly and Ian Woosnam  plus Ryder Cup stars Ian Poulter and Paul Casey and several other big names.

Inaugural Mena Tour to tee off September 25

                                                                 Watch Live Golf

The inaugural Mena Tour, which boasts of a combined prize fund of $225,000 (Dh826,200) tees off in September with all four events due to be played in the UAE, it was announced yesterday.An initiative by the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, the Mena Golf Tour seeks to create "new windows of playing opportunities" for all Mena ((Middle East and North Africa) national professionals and amateurs which will not only hone their golfing skills but will also enhance the overall development of golf in the region.The first of the four event series will be played from September 25 to 28 while the second and third event will be held from October 2-5 and October 9-12 respectively before the tour reaches its climax with the ‘Tour Championship' to be held from October 16-19.The venue for each event is being finalised and will be announced shortly, but the organisers of the Mena Golf Tour have confirmed that all the four tournaments will be played at different courses in the UAE.The prize fund for the first three stops is $50,000 each while the grand finale will carry $75,000 in prize money for the professionals. The top three professionals and the leading amateur from the Order of Merit will receive special invitations to compete in the 2012 Omega Dubai Desert Classic and, possibly, other European Tour events in the region.

The Celtic Manor Wales Open European Tour

Saab Golf Week, May 30 - June 5

After staging a Ryder Cup described as the "greatest ever" in October, The Celtic Manor Resort is introducing a brand new dimension to tournament golf in 2011 with the creation of Saab Golf Week.With title sponsorship backing from the premium car manufacturer, Saab Golf Week embraces the Saab Wales Open from June 2-5,  as Celtic Manor stages the stellar event on The European Tour for a 12th year running, and an exciting new tournament, PowerPlay Golf: Ignition on Bank Holiday Monday, May 30.

                                                            Watch Live Golf

PowerPlay Golf: Ignition, May 30

Hailed as golf’s equivalent to cricket’s popular Twenty20 format, PowerPlay Golf: Ignition will feature Ryder Cup players Graeme McDowell, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, as well as two-time major champion John Daly and stars from the women’s and seniors’ game including Paula Creamer, Ian Woosnam and Gary Player.PowerPlay Golf is condensed into three hours of action over nine holes – with two flags on every green. Competitors choose when they want to use their PowerPlays and attack a more difficult  Black Flag in the hope of scoring double points.

                                                           Watch Live Golf

Saab Wales Open, June 2 - 5

US Open champion Graeme McDowell returns to defend his trophy at this year's Saab Wales Open as big-hitting American John Daly makes his debut in the event.Played over the same Twenty Ten Course which hosted such a memorable Ryder Cup in 2010, the Saab Wales Open will see many more superstars of the world game return to The Celtic Manor Resort to compete for the £1.8m prize fund.The tournament has grown into one of the leading events on The European Tour International Schedule since its inception in 2000 and other past champions include Ryder Cup stars Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Ian Poulter, Paul Lawrie and Paul McGinley.

                                                                  Watch Live Golf

Asian Golf Nanshan China Masters

                                                               Watch Live Golf


Nanshan China Masters” was grandly held in General Administration of Sport of China. Xiao Tian, deputy director of General Administration of Sport of China, vice president of Chinese Olympic Committee, Zhang Xiaoning, director of Multi-ball Games Administrative Center of General Administration of Sport of China, vice president and secretary general of China Golf Association, Sang Y. Chun, chairman of One Asia, Li Weicheng, secretary of Shandong Province Sports Center, Song Jianmin, president of Nanshan Group Co., Ltd., and some professional candidates such as Liang Wenchong and Zhang Xinjun attended the news conference.

Landing on Shandong Peninsula for the first time, and held by Nanshan International Golf Club, One Asia is so far the golf competition of the highest level held in Shandong Province. Nanshan Group, the sponsor of this competition, was established in 1978, and after over thirty years’ of hard work, has become a large private joint-stock enterprise group covering three park areas, almost 60 enterprises, several listed companies and financial institutions with such leading industries as aluminum, textile and apparel, finance, real estate, tourism and education, has set up branches in many countries and regions such as Australia, USA, Canada and Italy, and ranked the Top 500 Enterprises of China. In 2010, Nanshan Group won the Provincial Governor Quality Award, the highest award set up by the provincial government.

                                                                 Watch Live Golf     


 “It is the first time and also a great honor for us to sponsor the China Masters. We hope that ‘Nanshan China Masters’ could become a successive classic competition of One Asia”, said Song Jianmin, president of Nanshan Group, “We promise that we will continually invest in the development of golf to promote the development of China golf and continuously expand the competition.” In the past years, through organizing Club Leagues, Professional Champions, Industrial Champions, Youth Competitions, etc., Nanshan Group has improved the enterprise image, drawn the continuous attention of the public and the media. Song Jianmin thought it was one of the important contents of Nanshan brand building to organize high-level golf competitions, and Nanshan Group emphasized and would continue to host fashionable golf competitions with high-grade image.Nanshan International Golf Club is the training base of China Golf National Team with the only golf school authorized by China Golf Association, and had ever held many important national competitions. Danlingcuiyuan Golf Course, the hosting place of the “Nanshan China Masters”, is exactly the training site of the national team preparing for the Asian Games in last year.As the organizer of the competition, Qu Tao, general manager of Nanshan International Golf Club, indicated that in order to successfully hold the first “Nanshan China Masters”, the golf club has done a lot of preparations long before, and invested a large amount of money. He said: “At present, we are dedicated to the training of caddies and the selection of volunteers. To provide the candidates with the best rest environment, we choose the five-star Nanshan International Conference Center as the hotel of the players. As for the competition promotion, there are also some golf main media such as TVs, Internet and magazines to provide focuses and reports. 

                                                             Watch Live Golf


Zhang Xiaoning, director of Multi-ball Games Administrative Center of General Administration of Sport of China, vice president and secretary general of China Golf Association, gave high appraisals to Nanshan International Golf Club. He said: “As a domestic famous golf club with abundant auxiliary resources, Nanshan International Golf Club has ever organized large-scale golf competitions for many times, and is the designated training base of China Golf Association National Team. It can be estimated that with the meticulous organization of the organizer, the players will enjoy excellent competition services, and provide the spectators with splendid competitions.” He also added, “Held in China, One Asia will provide more entry quotas for the players in the hosting country and more opportunities to participate in the competition for Chinese candidates, and create favorable conditions for the development of China golf.”

                                                              Watch Live Golf


Liang Wenchong, top china golf professional player, winner of 2010 One Asia Tour, has great expectations for the coming “Nanshan China Masters”. He believes the “Nanshan China Masters” gathering world excellent players will promote the boosting development of golf in China and in Asia. “One Asia Tour not only provides us professional players with high-quality competing platform, and helps us gain experience of large-scale competitions, but also provides us with opportunities of interacting and communicating with excellent players in Asian-Pacific region. This competition will definitely be very splendid and fierce, and we will try our best to present the spectators with a high-level competition.” Liang Wenchong said.

The signing up of 2011 One Asia “Nanshan China Masters” will begin in the end of March. In this competition, there are totally 156 candidates including 10 leading candidates of Asian-Pacific region ranking top 250, 75 leading candidates of One Asia, 5 leading amateur candidates from R&A World Amateur Golf in member countries of Asian-Pacific Golf Union, 10 specially invited candidates, 30 local exempted candidates from the hosting country and candidates that haven’t gain the eligibility from One Asia membership types.