Seoul: Asia will host three consecutive PGA Tour events starting from next year, after the announcement on Monday of a new, permanent South Korean stop on the association’s global tour schedule.
The event, to be called the CJ Cup, will be held for the first time on October 16-22, 2017, at the Nine Bridges course on the southern resort island of Jeju.
“This announcement is a historic landmark for the PGA Tour as we add another tournament in Asia,” said the tour CEO Jay Monahan.
The event will feature a combined purse of more than $9 million (Dh33 million), and expands on the PGA’s CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur and the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
Monahan said the choice of South Korea was partly down to the success it had with hosting the President’s Cup in 2015 — the first time the event had been played in Asia.
“The addition ... gives us three strong tournaments in consecutive weeks in Asia, and they will play a significant role in shaping the early part of the FedExCup season and the FedExCup chase overall,” he added.
The 78-man field for the CJ Cup will comprise the top 60 players available from the previous year’s FedEx Cup, and 18 others from a number of different exemptions to be named at a later date.
