PGA TOUR Series-China announces Qualifying Tournament sites, dates
Three tournaments in Guangzhou and the first Series event outside Greater China make up qualifying season
Beijing – Foison Golf Club’s Dye Course in Guangzhou will host three 2019 PGA TOUR Series-China Qualifying Tournaments, and then the Series will make history when it holds for the first time its final Global Qualifying event outside of Greater China.
The Series’ third Global Qualifying Tournament is set for Laguna Phuket Golf Club in Phuket, Thailand. Aside from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau have also hosted official events, with Thailand to join the list.
The First Global Qualifying Tournament will be February 19-22, 2019, with the Second Global Qualifying Tournament the following week (February 26-March 1). The Third Global Qualifying Tournament is March 5-8 in Phuket, with all three tournaments open to players from outside Mainland China. The Tour will begin accepting applications for the three Global Qualifying Tournaments on December 26, 2018 at 8:00 a.m. EST. However, the Tour will begin accepting early applications for former PGA TOUR Series-China, Web.com Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada members on December 22, 2018 at 8 a.m., EST.
Foison Golf Club will also host the Mainland China Qualifying Tournament for China passport holders. That qualifier, also with a field size of 120 players, is set for January 22-25. The Tour will begin accepting applications for the Mainland Chinese Q-School on December 22, at 8 a.m., Beijing time.
“We have watched numerous players show up at the Qualifying Tournaments, and a year or two later they are playing on the Web.com Tour and the PGA TOUR. It’s at the qualifiers where many of them are beginning their professional journeys, and we recognize the talent that has come through our Tour during its first four years,” said PGA TOUR Series-China Executive Director Greg Carlson. “As we announce these dates, it means another PGA TOUR Series-China season is just around the corner, featuring a mix of new players who will emerge from these qualifiers as well as those players who are returning.
“This is also a new chapter in the history of the Tour as we stage an event away from Greater China for the first time. Playing in Thailand will provide players with a new cultural experience while playing a tournament on a world-class golf course in one of the great resort cities in Southeast Asia,” Carlson continued.
Each of the Qualifying Tournaments will feature fields of 120 players, with the winner of each 72-hole, stroke-play tournament earning a full exemption for the entire 2019 season. Those finishing between second and 12th will have full status through the Tour’s first six events. Players finishing in the Nos. 13-35 positions, and ties, will have conditional status through the season’s first six events. After the sixth tournament, there will be a reshuffle based on 2019 Order of Merit rank. The season-ending event will have eligibility based on performance during the season, not on Q-School results. The Global Qualifying Tournaments carry an entry fee of U.S. $1,500, while the Mainland China Qualifying Tournament, due to a discount offered by Foison Golf Club, will cost RMB 7,500.
Foison Golf Club’s original 18 holes previously hosted the final event of the 2016 PGA TOUR Series-China season—the Buick Open, won by China’s Huilin Zhang. In 2019, the Dye Course will be the site of the qualifier, a course designed by Cynthia Dye.
Architect Paul Jansen revamped and upgraded Laguna Phuket Golf Club in 2014, a course built among lagoons, native water grasses and mature woodland areas. The last International Federation of PGA Tours event held at Laguna Phuket Golf Club was the Asian Development Tour’s 2017 Singha Phuket Open.
In 2018, PGA TOUR Series-China Global Qualifying Tournament winners were Americans Jeffrey Kang and Joseph Winslow, with Cheng Jin capturing the Mainland China qualifier. Other Global Qualifying Tournament winners in the Series’ history are American Charlie Saxon and South Korea’s Sungpil Park (2016), Canada’s Justin Shin and American Kyle Souza (2015) and Australians David Lutterus and Alex Hawley (2014).
