The Singapore Open was a
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
tournament in Singapore that was predominantly part of the
Asian Tour
The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...
schedule. The event was held at Sentosa Golf Club since 2005 and since 2017 had been part of the Open Qualifying Series, giving up to four non-exempt players entry into
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
.
The Singapore Open was founded in 1961 and was one of the tournaments on the first season of the Far East Circuit (later the
Asia Golf Circuit
The Asia Golf Circuit was the principal men's professional golf tour in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s through to the mid-late 1990s. The tour was founded in 1961 as the Far East Circuit. The first series of five tournaments was held in 1962 ...
) the following year. It remained part of the Asia circuit until 1993 when it became a fixture on the
Australasian Tour
The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...
. After just 3 seasons, it left the Australasian Tour to join the fledgling Asian Tour for that tour's second season in 1996. The event was also co-sanctioned with the
European Tour
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...
from
2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
to 2012, and with the
Japan Golf Tour
The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after th ...
since 2016.
History
The Singapore Open was founded in 1961 and was staged annually until 2001, when it was won by
Thaworn Wiratchant
Thaworn Wiratchant (born 28 December 1966) is a Thai professional golfer who plays on the Asian Tour where he holds the record for most victories, with 18 total wins.
Professional career
Wiratchant's biggest win came in March 2005 when he won th ...
. Other winners in the years leading up to this included American
Shaun Micheel
Shaun Carl Micheel (born January 5, 1969) is an American professional golfer who is best known for his surprise victory at the 2003 PGA Championship.
Career
Micheel was born in Orlando, Florida. He attended Christian Brothers High School in Memp ...
in 1998, who went on to win the
2003 PGA Championship
The 2003 PGA Championship was the 85th PGA Championship, held from August 14–17 at the East Course of Oak Hill Country Club near Rochester, New York. Shaun Micheel won his only major title, two strokes ahead of runner-up Chad Campbell. It was ...
. Other notable winners of the event who went on to win majors, include
Ángel Cabrera
Ángel Cabrera (; born 12 September 1969) is an Argentine professional golfer who has played on both the European Tour and PGA Tour. He is known affectionately as ''"El Pato"'' in Spanish ''("The Duck")'' for his waddling gait. He is a two-time ...
,
Adam Scott and
Sergio García
Sergio García Fernández (; born 9 January 1980) is a Spanish professional golfer. He has played on the European Tour, PGA Tour and LIV Golf Invitational Series. García has won 36 international tournaments as a professional, most notably th ...
.
In 2002 the event was cancelled because of lack of sponsorship. It was not revived until 2005, when sponsorship was secured from the
Sentosa Leisure Group
Sentosa Island, known mononymously as Sentosa, and formerly ''Pulau Belakang Mati'', is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore's main island. The island is separated from the main island of Singapore by a channel of water, the K ...
. The 2005 prize fund was
$2 million, which made the Singapore Open by far the richest tournament exclusive to the Asian Tour that was not co-sanctioned by the European Tour, a status it retained until the European Tour first co-sanctioned the event in 2009. Asian Tour chief executive Louis Martin claimed when the revival of the tournament was announced, "Competing for a prize purse of two million US dollars will give our playing membership a huge boost and elevate the Asian Tour to a new level." The 2005 event was played in September.
The 2006 Singapore Open offered a purse of US$3 million with a winner's share of US$475,000. In May 2006, it was announced that
Barclays Bank
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
would sponsor the event for five years from 2006 and that the prize fund will be increased to US$4 million in 2007 and US$5 million in 2008. In 2011, the purse was US$6,000,000. The 2013 edition was cancelled due to lack of sponsorship.
After a three-year absence, the tournament returned in January 2016. The event was co-sanctioned by the
Asian Tour
The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...
and
Japan Golf Tour
The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after th ...
.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
is a Japanese multinational banking and financial services institution headquartered in Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The group operates in retail, corporate, and investment banking segment worldwide. It provides financial products and ser ...
also became the new title sponsor of the event.
Song Young-han
Song Young-han ( ko, 송영한; born 12 July 1991), also known as Younghan Song, is a South Korean professional golfer.
Song plays on the Korean Tour and the Japan Golf Tour. On the Korean Tour he has three runner-up finishes and finished 11th ...
won the revived event, beating current world number one
Jordan Spieth
Jordan Alexander Spieth (born July 27, 1993) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour and former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is a three-time major winner and the 2015 FedEx Cup champion.
Spieth's first majo ...
by one shot in the weather-delayed event.
Matt Kuchar
Matthew Gregory Kuchar (born June 21, 1978) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and formerly the Nationwide Tour. He has won nine times on the PGA Tour.
Kuchar briefly enjoyed success in the early 2000s before sufferin ...
won the 2020 event, beating
Justin Rose
Justin Peter Rose, (born 30 July 1980) is an English professional golfer who plays most of his golf on the PGA Tour, while keeping his membership on the European Tour. He won his first major championship at the 2013 U.S. Open (golf), 2013 U.S. O ...
by three shots.
The tournament was not played in 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Venues
The following venues have been used since the founding of the Singapore Open in 1961.
Winners
See also
*
Singapore Masters
The Singapore Masters was an annual men's professional golf tournament which was played in Singapore from 2001 to 2007. It was co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour, and was one of many European Tour events established in East Asi ...
– a golf tournament which was co-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tours from 2001 to 2007
Notes
References
External links
Official siteCoverage on the Asian Tour's official siteCoverage on the Japan Golf Tour's official siteCoverage on the European Tour's official site(2009–2012)
{{coord, 1.3, 103.8, type:event, display=title
Asia Golf Circuit events
Former Asian Tour events
Former Japan Golf Tour events
Former European Tour events
Former PGA Tour of Australasia events
Golf tournaments in Singapore
Recurring sporting events established in 1961
1961 establishments in Singapore
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group