Johor Bahru, Malaysia, 21 October 2009 – With one more day to go before The Iskandar Johor Open ("IJO"), begins at the Royal Johor Country Club, Malaysian favorites Ben Leong, Airil Rizman and Ian Steel playfully dabbled in an attempt promote Malaysian cuisine and culture to the international players while taking a break during the practice sessions.
After having gone through a grueling round of practice sessions, the star players gathered at the Golfers Terrace to break for lunch. As customary of typical Malaysian hospitality, local golf heroes Airil, Ben and Ian decided to take it upon themselves to introduce international players Retief and Choi to the delights of Laksa Johor as well as inculcate them on Malaysian culture.
While the tournament is slated to become a hotly contested one, hope still remains for our local Malaysian players to ace the tournament and do Malaysia proud. The Iskandar Johor Open is one of the largest golfing events in the country and this year marks its third tournament with an increase prize pool of USD 1 million.
Malaysians are eagerly rooting for out Malaysian golfers to put out their best on the home front. Danny Chia, the country’s first winner on the Asian Tour when he triumphed in the Taiwan Open in 2002, is seeking to end his title drought at the challenging Royal Johor Country Club.
"I enjoy playing on home ground more than anything and it is really thrilling to play for Malaysia ; I’ll do my best and I hope to give the local crowds something to cheer about," said Chia, who was in contention at the Maybank Malaysian Open this year before settling for tied 11th place.
Airil on the other hand is determined to produce a strong finish to secure his Asian Tour card for the next season "I am happy with the rate I am going but I would need to put up a better performance. I know I can shoot good scores but recently it just wasn’t happening. I have a good feeling that the good rounds are coming at the IJO," said Airil.
"It is nice playing at home as you don’t have to travel far but I really hope that I can play good and make my fans proud," added the Malaysian.
Teen favorite, Ben Leong is also hoping to regain the winning form that led him to success at the Worldwide Selangor Masters in 2008.
In addition, this year will see 10 local professionals playing at the tournament. Following a grueling challenge across the Royal Johor Country Club's greens, these tenacious few have earned the right to play alongside international players. Lim Eng Seng, Hafiz Hamizan and Shaifubari Muda were among the top three at the qualifiers.
I am very pleased to see ten of our local players qualifying for this prestigious tournament - especially as six of them had previously qualified to play in the Malaysian Open 2009 held earlier this year and have already gained some experience against an international field of players. They'll no doubt be perfecting their skills for the upcoming challenge and I believe we will see a tremendous effort and a very good showing from them during the Iskandar Johor Open 2009," enthused Manjit Majid Abdullah, organizing secretary of the Iskandar Johor Open.
Joining the top three qualifiers were Sukree Othman, Mohd Sharif Solhairy, R. Nachimuthu, Zamri Shariff, C.M. Chong, Akmal Tarmizee and Andrew Hassan.
About Iskandar Johor Open
The first edition of the Iskandar Johor Open (IJO) was held in 2007 when it was played from Aug 23 - 26 at the Royal Johor Country Club (RJCC) in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Carrying a purse prize of US$300,000, the inaugural tournament saw a total of 156 players from 25 countries. The tournament was won by Artemio Murakami of the Philippines. Murakami came from two off the lead with a near-flawless closing 68 to take the title by one stroke from compatriot Tony Lascuna and the seasoned Scot, Simon Yates for his maiden win on the Asian Tour.
South African Retief Goosen went on to clinch the coveted trophy in the US$ 500,000 Iskandar Johor Open 2008. 144 golf professionals from the Asian Tour battled it out at the Royal Johor Country Club from 30 October – 2 November 2008. The 2nd edition of Iskandar Johor Open was fully sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Malaysian Golf Association and Johor Golf Association and boasted some of the world’s top players – Retief Goosen, Niclas Fasth, Thongchai Jaidee amongst others.
2009 will mark a milestone in the history of Iskandar Johor Open, with a 100% increase in prize money to US$ 1,000,000. The main sponsor of the Iskandar Johor Open is the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA). It is also supported by platinum sponsor - UEM Land Berhad, the master developer of Nusajaya which is a key driver of Iskandar Malaysia. Other co-sponsors include Iskandar Waterfront Development and UM Land. Official partners are TaylorMade Adidas Golf, 100 Plus, Srixon, Winston Wine, Dewars, Ricoh and the Puteri Pacific Hotel.
IJO 2009 will once again be broadcast live over ESPN STAR Sports, reaching out to over 120 million homes around the world.
