Hong Kong golf meet in December

The UBS Hong Kong Open golf tournament will be among the headline opening acts on the 2017 European Tour and the closing events on the 2016 Asian Tour season after tournament organisers on Tuesday announced its dates of December 8-11, 2016.

Won by Englishman Justin Rose last November, the UBS Hong Kong Open will return to the Hong Kong Golf Club for the territory's longest running professional sporting event, which was established in 1959 and has been staged at the iconic Fanling venue since its inception.

Tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and the Hong Kong Golf Association, the UBS Hong Kong Open will carry a prize purse of $2 million.

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive Officer of the European Tour, said in a release: "I'm delighted with the news that the UBS Hong Kong will be part of our early 2017 schedule and we thank title sponsor UBS along with our partners at the Asian Tour and the Hong Kong Golf Association, for their continued commitment to the tournament."

Kyi Hla Han, Commissioner, Asian Tour, said: "The tournament will play a major role in determining the Asian Tour's Order of Merit race at the end of our season which I'm sure will once again provide the excitement and drama so often associated with the UBS Hong Kong Open."

The UBS Hong Kong Open boasts an impressive roll of honour, with past champions including Peter Thomson, Greg Norman, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer and Tom Watson and, more recently, Jose Maria Olazábal, Colin Montgomerie, Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter, Miguel Angel Jimenez and current champion Rose.