Ladies European Tour event returns to Hainan Island Resort for second consecutive year
(SCOTTSDALE, AZ) – Schmidt-Curley Design – one of golf’s most active and innovative design firms – announces its Sandbelt Trails Course at Mission Hills Haikou will host the Mission Hills World Ladies Championship, March 7-10.
Inspired by the Australian Sandbelt’s iconic courses, Sandbelt Trails employs distinct bunkering with transitional edges that tie into the native vegetation. The gently rolling site is populated with Eucalyptus trees, further evoking its Australian influences of revered courses such as Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath and Metropolitan Golf Club.
It is one of the 10 18-hole courses designed by Schmidt-Curley at Mission Hills Haikou.
“The course is in great condition and should play hard and fast,” says firm co-founder Brian Curley. “We’re confident Sandbelt Trails will be as well received by competitors as The Vintage Course was for last year’s event.”
Sandbelt Trails’ wide playing corridors encourage second-shot creativity into large, undulating greens. Fairways and putting surfaces are frequently flanked by yawning, high-flashed bunkers.
The fourth event on the 2013 Ladies European Tour (LET) schedule, the Mission Hills World Ladies Championship features a unique three-in-one tournament format. There is an Individual Professional Competition played over 72 holes of individual stroke-play; a 72-hole Professional Team Competition in which the scores of the top two players from 18 countries represented will be combined to determine the winning team; and a 72-hole stroke-play Individual Amateur Competition.
2012 LPGA Championship winner Shenshen Fang will defend her title against a field of international stars including Suzann Pettersen, Inbee Park and Laura Davies.
Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, Schmidt-Curley Design has two fully-staffed Asia offices (in Haikou and Kunming, China) to promote quicker mobilization, lower travel costs and other valuable advantages over competitors.
For more information: www.schmidt-curley.com, http://twitter.com/SchmidtCurley, http://www.facebook.com/SchmidtCurley, 480.483.1994.
To view select project images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60163396@N04/.
About Schmidt-Curley Design
Founded in 1997 by partners Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley, Schmidt-Curley Design (www.schmidt-curley.com) is a full-service, international golf course architecture and master-planning firm. The tandem – leading fully-staffed offices in the USA (Scottsdale, Arizona) and China (Haikou, Hainan Island and Kunming) – has been named GOLF Magazine’s “Architect of the Year” and Asian Golf Monthly’s “Best Golf Course Architects.”
Schmidt-Curley has designed more than 150 layouts in 25 countries. High-profile credits include 10 of the 12 courses at storied Mission Hills Shenzhen – the “World’s Largest Golf Club” – and all 10 at Mission Hills’ new Hainan Island resort. Mission Hills Hainan’s Lava Fields Course is the only Chinese design ranked among Golf World’s “Top 100,” and was named GOLF Magazine’s “Best New International Course” of 2011.
Other award-winning results include Mission Hills Hainan’s Blackstone Course; Thailand’s Siam C.C. and Amata Spring G.C.; Southern Dunes G.C. (Arizona, USA); The Wilderness Club (Montana, USA) and French Lick Resort’s Donald Ross Course (Indiana, USA). The recently unveiled 54-hole Stone Forest International C.C. near Kunming is also garnering global acclaim.
Schmidt-Curley has worked extensively with golf’s biggest names – including Pete Dye, Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus and Fred Couples on numerous noteworthy projects – and boasts five ASGCA members (Schmidt, Curley, Grant Haserot, Andy Raugust and Shane Witcombe).
Producing demanding yet beautiful and enjoyable courses, Schmidt-Curley strives to create golf experiences that stir the senses and elevate golfers’ appreciations for the land and the game. By balancing classic golf course architecture with ever-changing contemporary technology, Schmidt-Curley places an emphasis on site-adaptive courses, memorable and satisfying for all levels of play and always designed for cost-efficient maintenance and operations.
Contact:
Stephen Reynolds
Buffalo Communications
703.891.3509
sreynolds@buffalocommunications.com
www.buffalocommunications.com
