Marianas International Cup draws 120 golfers

A total of 120 golfers are set to battle for the top honors in the inaugural Marianas International Cup 2017 that will be held this weekend in two of Saipan’s challenging golf courses—Kingfisher Golf Links and the Laolao Bay Golf & Resort.

Thirty amateur golfers each from China, Japan, and South Korea will be playing alongside the local bets in the two-day tournament, which will have a cocktail reception from 8pm to 9:30pm tonight at the casino lobby of Imperial Pacific Resort.

Action begins on Saturday with an 8am tee time at Kingfisher and is expected to finish before the scheduled 1pm lunch at the club house. Tee time moves to Laolao’s east course on Sunday and it will coincide with a sponsors’ tournament on the west course with both events starting at 8am. The lunch and awards ceremony are set from 1pm to 3pm.

Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC Marketing and Public Affairs director David Largent said although there are no prominent amateur golfers competing, there are still a lot of good players from the three countries featured in the weekend event.

He added that it is the first international golf tournament that will be held on Saipan. “It is the first of its kind and is positioned being an annual event to continue to attract golf tourism. It would also promote marketing between the Marianas Visitors Authority tourism markets of China, Japan, and South Korea. So this year, will be a good start to do even more next year.”

The Top 8 male and four female golfers in the 2017 Annual Club Lao Charity Golf Tournament earned qualifying spots to the Marianas International Cup, while 12 players will be leading the charge for the locals. Ryan Park Kim, Feng Chun Jin, J.J. Atalig, Dong Young Lee, Jong Hoon Park, Seung Woo Kang, Young Woo Lee, and Gi Yeong Kim are the men’s qualifiers, while Yuko Togawa, Me Ae Jeon, Chang Hee Yoo, and Noriko Togawa earned the women’s spots.

The Marianas International Cup will have low gross and double peoria formats. There will be Top 3 men’s and women’s winners after the two-day combined low gross scores, while one champion will be named in the double peoria.

The Top 3 for each country—China, Japan, and Korea—will also be recognized after the combined scores for two days in the double peoria format. Cash prizes will also be given away to the lucky winners.

The grand champion in the double peoria will get a free four-night stay at one of Imperial Pacific Resort Hotel-Saipan’s Grand Ocean Suites and round-trip airfare for two to Saipan, while winners from each country will get a three-night stay in a Deluxe room. The hotel will open in late 2018.

IPI (CNMI) LLC is the tournament host with IT&E, the Marianas Visitors Authority, Docomo Pacific, TanHoldings, Triple J, I Love Saipan, Hana Tour, Golf007.com, DFS, and Hyatt Regency-Saipan as partners.