Leading golf stars Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer and Michelle Wie have all confirmed that they will play in the 2006 HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, New Jersey, 6-9 July 2006.
The 2005 HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship, won by Colombia’s Marisa Baena, marked the first official match play tournament to be played in America in half a century. HSBC, one of the world’s largest financial services organisations, are proud to sponsor the only individual match play championship in women’s golf and offer a prize fund of US$2 million with a winner’s cheque of $500,000.
A quarterfinalist at last year’s Championship and winner of 10 of the 20 LGPA events she entered, Annika Sorenstam said;
"I am looking forward to returning to Hamilton Farm to try to improve on last year’s performance. A match play event brings great variety to the schedule and we all enjoy the different challenges it brings which I think was reflected last year when every top player turned out."
Paula Creamer, who won twice in her rookie year on the 2005 LPGA Tour as well as winning two events on the LPGA of Japan Tour, is looking forward to returning to New Jersey this year;
"I really enjoyed the HSBC event last year as match play is a nice change from regular stroke play. I was fortunate enough to represent the USA in last September’s Solheim Cup and was thrilled to have done so well in all of my matches. Hopefully, my match play success will carry over when I play the 2006 HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship!!"
Sixteen year old Michelle Wie, one of world’s most talked about teenagers, showed her match play pedigree in 2004, where, as the youngest golfer in the history of the Curtis Cup, she won both her singles matches to help the U.S. defeat Great Britain & Ireland. Delighted to confirm she will be among the world class 64 women field, she enthused;
"I am thrilled that I am able to include the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship in my schedule this year. I am particularly happy that the Championship is hosted in the summer when I do not have to miss school. I am very keen to play in this event as I really enjoy the match play mindset and think it suits my game. I’ve had some of my best results in match play competition reaching the semifinals of the US Women’s Amateur Public Links when I was 12 and winning it when I was 13. I also enjoyed advancing to the quarterfinals of the US Amateur Public Links (Men) last summer. I played in a lot of match play events on the amateur circuit and I hope that these experiences will benefit me at Hamilton Farm this coming July".
Players will compete in 18 holes of head-to-head match play golf culminating in a grand final on Sunday 9 July.
The five-year deal between HSBC, tournament organisers IMG and the LPGA includes a total annual prize fund from HSBC of US$2 million. The HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship, the only official match play tournament on the LPGA schedule, will be covered in the US by the Golf Channel on Thursday and Friday and by CBS on Saturday 8 July and Sunday 9 July from 3:00pm to 5:00pm EST. Internationally, the championship will be seen in major markets around the world with a cumulative reach of an estimated 100 million homes.
HSBC’s investment and support for golf continues to grow. The bank now title sponsor three leading tournaments worldwide – the HSBC World Match Play Championship, held at Wentworth, England, the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship and the HSBC Champions, held for the first time last year at the Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai.
HSBC’s worldwide commitment to golf extends to grassroots golf at a local level. In the UK alone, a comprehensive development programme includes HSBC Wee Wonders, a dynamic junior golf tournament for 5-12 year old boys and girls, the HSBC Amateur Match Play, a high-profile amateur equivalent match play competition and this year will host the first HSBC Junior Match Play tournament for 12-18 year old boys and girls. The bank also supports a host of other initiatives, including a Top 120 and Regional Course Ranking and customer golf days.
For further information on the HSBC global golf programme, please visit www.hsbcgolf.com
Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-866-492-4722 and on line at www.hsbcgolf.com. They will be priced as follows:
Ticket Advance sales Event Price
Practice N/A US$15
Thursday US$30 US$35
Friday US$30 US$35
Saturday US$30 US$35
Sunday US$30 US$35
Championship* US$100 US$120
10 tickets for any one day US$275 N/A
Note:
* Championship ticket is valid for all five days.
Under 16s will be admitted free of charge.
All prices include a daily draw sheet.
For further information about the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship and all other HSBC golf events, please visit www.hsbcgolf.com
Media enquiries:
HSBC Head of Sports Sponsorship & Marketing Giles Morgan + 44 (0)20 7992 1386
Director of Communications and Public Policy Richard Beck + 44 (0)20 7991 0633
IMG PR Manager Michele Mair + 44 (0)20 8233 5177
Notes to editors:
The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc is headquartered in the UK. The HSBC Group serves over 125 million customers worldwide from approximately 9,500 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$1,502 billion at 31 December 2005, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as ‘the world’s local bank’
IMG
IMG is the world’s premier Sports, Entertainment and Media Company. IMG is a diversified global business with 2 major business segments: IMG Sports and Entertainment, and IMG Media, which includes its TWI subsidiary. IMG employs over 2,000 people in 30 countries. Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in 2004. More information about IMG is available at www.imgworld.com
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