European Tour Q School Stage 1 event

breaks new ground in Malaysia

NEWS RELEASE

The European Tour Qualifying School will venture to Asia for the first time this year, with Malaysia’s Saujana Golf and Country Club hosting a First Stage Qualifier from September 5-8.

The Kuala Lumpur venue, which held this year’s Maybank Championship, has a long affiliation with the European Tour, having first played host to the Malaysian Open in 1999 – which entered the record books as the first event to be co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.

It will make history again this year, becoming the first venue outside of Europe to host a Qualifying School event in the competition’s 41-year history, underlining the close links between the European Tour and Asian Tour as part of the Strategic Alliance which was signed in July 2016.

Also a European Tour Destination, Saujana played host to the Malaysian Open five times between 2001 and 2009, with Vijay Singh and Thongchai Jaidee among the winners, and is widely regarded as one of Asia’s leading courses.

Built on the site of a former palm and rubber plantation, the picturesque venue was the brainchild of former Prime Minister YAB Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who, in 1982, ordered a government task force to set up a golf club in his nation’s capital to attract investors to the area.