Japan Golf Tour Organization Sanctions New Tournament In Fukushima

The Japan Golf Tour Organization announced Thursday that "it will sanction" the Dunlop Srixon Fukushima Open, according to KYODO. The new event, to be held at the Grandee Nasushirakawa Golf Club in Fukushima Prefecture from July 31-Aug. 3, "means there will 25 tour events this season, the same as last year." The new event’s ¥50M ($490,000) in prize money "will be the lowest figure" on the ‘14 calendar.  JGTO Exec Dir Hiroshi Yamanaka said, “We want people to be able to see pros in an area that doesn’t have tournaments. With ¥50 million in total prize money, we’d like this to be a test case to see if we can hold slimmed-down tournaments.” This year’s season opener, the Thailand Open, “was due to start on March 13 outside Bangkok, but it has been postponed due to political unrest in the capital.” The JGTO “is looking at re-scheduling the event in July or August” (KYODO, 2/13).