Sarawak Championship Aims to Promote Tourism

The Asian Tour will stage the inaugural Sarawak Championship, a new event in Malaysia from July 4-7.

Supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Art, Culture, Youth and Sports Sarawak, the inaugural tournament will offer a prize purse of US$300,000 and will be staged at the Arnold Palmer-designed Damai Golf and Country Club in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak.

The Sarawak State Government and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Sarawak, hopes to leverage on the Tour’s global coverage via its online and television platform to promote tourism in Sarawak.

By hosting this event, the State plans to showcase Sarawak as a destination for golfers in Asia and around the world while promoting the beauty of the State through the Tour’s television highlights.

It will be the first time the Asian Tour has hosted a tournament in Sarawak since staging Asian Development Tour (ADT) events from 2012 to 2017.

Featuring a field of 150 players, including a minimum of 25 Malaysian golfers, the Sarawak Championship will be the fourth event sanctioned by the Asian Tour in Malaysia in 2018 along with the EurAsia Cup, Maybank Championship and CIMB Classic.

“This is excellent news for golf in Asia. Malaysia is a very important market for the Asian Tour and we are delighted to add the Sarawak Championship. A big thank you to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Sarawak and all parties which worked together to bring this international tournament to the country,” said Josh Burack, Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Tour, a Full Business Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.

He added: “Malaysia is a huge melting pot of culture and I’m confident the beauty of Sarawak will be extensively promoted through our television highlights show and the additional content we produce and distribute on our digital media channels.”

The Sarawak Championship is the third new Asian Tour event announced this year following the Asia-Pacific Classic in China and CNS Open Golf Championship in Pakistan. The Asian Tour also sanctioned the ISPS Handa New Zealand Open for the first time this year.