Tiger Woods to return to Malaysia in CIMB Classic

Malaysia is set to grab the golfing headlines in October – thanks to the rebranding of the CIMB Classic.

The future of the CIMB Classic looks as good as it could ever be.

DATUK Seri Nazir Razak spoke for just 10 minutes and the function was over in less than 30 minutes, not withstanding this, the quick-do was probably the most significant event for Malaysia, or even the region, in terms of golf, in the past few decades.

In the least, not since the joint-sanctioning of the Malaysian Open by the European and Asian Tours have we witnessed such an important change to the local golf landscape.

No, we’re not talking only about Tiger Woods coming in October for the CIMB Classic, but rather that in 2013 the tournament will become a full-fledged US PGA Tour event, whose winnings will count towards the money list and also carry all-important FedEx Cup points.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak told the function that it has always been his dream to one day see a full-fledged PGA Tour event staged in Malaysia and added that he was grateful to CIMB for making it possible.

The CIMB Classic, as it is now known, will definitely consolidate Malaysia’s standing in global golf and bring the country’s courses into greater focus for the millions of golf tourists around the world.

The prize money in 2013 will be increased to US$7mil (RM21.8mil) and make the CIMB Classic among the richest in the world. At the moment, the tournament with the biggest prize purse in the world is the Players Championship with US$9.5mil.

This is followed by the two WGC (World Golf Championship) events – the Cadillac and the Bridgestone – at US$8.5mil apiece. The four majors (the Masters, US Open, the Open and PGA Championship) and the three FedEx Cup play-off events (The Barclays, Deutche Bank, BMW and Tour Championship) pay out US$8mil each.

There are no PGA Tour events that have prize money of more than US$7mil. Even the WGC-HSBC at Guangzhou’s Mission Hills has an equivalent purse of US$7mil.

The CIMB Classic, a no-cut event, will have 60 PGA Tour players taking part from next year.

By design, the CIMB will precede the WGC-HSBC, event thus offering two hefty paydays for the PGA professionals at the start of the new season format of the US Tour.

Todd Rhinehart, the PGA Tour’s executive director of the CIMB Classic, revealed that the new format would see the golf season start in the fall from next year.

Rhinehart has been brought in specially to run the CIMB Classic – his last job was to organise the season-ending Tour Championship – which decides the FedEx Cup winner.

Another big change to this tournament, besides the name change (it was previously the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic) is that the bank is now dealing with the PGA Tour directly on the event.

As for Tiger’s appearance from Oct 24, it could not have come at a better time.

His last appearance in Malaysia was also at the Mines Resort & Golf Club for the 1999 World Cup.
His return visit and the rebranding of the CIMB Classic comes as we Malaysians have gotten used to the top European names coming to our shores. This year’s event should stir quite a bit of interest.

Between now and October, look out for the various ways and contests to win tickets to watch Tiger and the other PGA Tour players at the Mines.

A point to note, Nazir in his closing remarks jokingly told the audience including, the Prime Minister that he hoped there would not be “any major sporting or political event” during the Oct 24-28 week.

In his reply, Najib said he was looking forward to playing with Tiger in the Pro-Am – provided there was no important events on.

In 1999, when Tiger partnered Mark O’Meara to win the World Cup – it was right in the middle of the campaign period of the GE10.

Let’s hope this time we can watch the CIMB Classic without distraction.

Caddy Master By WONG SAI WAN

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Women driving car market growth

Women seek foreign brand cars for style, performance and confidence boost.

 SEOUL: After years of driving Korean cars, Chung Ji-eun, a 33-year-old businesswoman, recently purchased a Benz C-Class sedan for herself.

“I used to enjoy shopping for European designers’ bags or shoes. But the satisfaction level with the Benz was the highest,” she said.

“I like the luxury design and performance. But, above all, I feel more confident driving alongside the tough male drivers on the road.”

The number of female drivers has surged in Korea since 2000. By the end of 2011, female drivers made up 29.5% of the nation’s drivers, up from 19% 10 years ago.

With their number growing recently, female drivers are expanding their presence in the local car market, especially the market for import car brands that are seeing soaring popularity.

For Korea’s largest car maker Hyundai Motor, 25% of customers are women. At the same time, the figure for import cars is 40% on average.

Hyundai, which claims about 40% of the domestic car market, said it is very difficult to figure out the exact number of female customers in Korea since many of them buy cars in the name of their husband or father.

Thus far, compact cars with cute styles such as Nissan’s Cube and BMW’s Mini have been favoured by female drivers here.

“For all Nissan cars, the male-female ratio is about 6:4. But for the pastel-coloured Cube, the figure is nearly 5:5,” said a Nissan Korea spokesperson.

“I feel the preference of females has become a more important factor in choosing cars (to sell) here.”
According to BMW Korea, the biggest selling foreign brand in Korea, 40% of their customers are also female.

A rising trend is the moderate growth in the number of women choosing sport utility vehicles in recent years, a BMW Korea PR official said.

“The age of our drivers is getting younger and the rate is more aggressive.

“And the number of female SUV drivers is increasing 2% to 3% every year nowadays,” he said.

Of the total BMW SUV drivers, female drivers accounted for 26% in 2011, up from 21% in 2009 and 24% in 2010.

Drivers say import cars are easier for women to drive as most of them are high-performance, luxury vehicles. Of course, the nation’s never-abating appetite for luxury goods may have also affected the growing trend.

Roh Hyun-jung, 50, drives the BMW 5-Series sedan that she bought two years ago on the recommendation of her husband, who still drives a Korean car.

“Driving a BMW requires a middle-aged woman like me to spend less energy. The luxurious interior design was also another reason for choosing the car,” she said.

Kim Jeon-kyu, who teaches at a local driver’s training institute, gave an interesting perspective based on a driving culture unique to Korea.

“I sometimes recommend my female students to buy an import car,” he said.

“Female drivers, especially those who have just started driving, are highly likely to be bullied by tough male drivers here. But if you drive a luxury car, they would just avoid you because they are well aware of the high maintenance costs.”

Korea Herald By Lee Ji-Yoon , AsianNewsNetwork

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When the wife is boss

Hubbies fall victim to abuse of high-earning, dominant spouses

PETALING JAYA: Earning less than your wife can be hazardous to your wellbeing as quite a number of men have discovered.

Although incidents of wives abusing husbands rarely appear in the media, the Welfare Department has been receiving cases of men being mistreated by dominant women every year.

Many of the culprits are women who earn more than their spouses.

The Welfare Department received 25 reports from men who were abused by their wives or girlfriends last year, 32 in 2010 and 14 in 2009.

Most cases were reported in Selangor, followed by the Federal Territory, and the offences included threatening injury, causing physical harm, emotional abuse and locking up the men.

The Department of Women Development received four cases of abused men last year, with financial disagreement being the root of all cases.

In each case, “the wife is more dominant in the family and earns a higher income than the husband,” it said in an e-mail.

Women, on the other hand, reported 117 cases of domestic abuse up to June this year, compared to 649 last year and 663 in 2010.

Neuro-psychologist Dr Nivashinie Mohan said that financial stress was the major cause of domestic violence against men.

“Studies have shown that women assault men about as often as men assault women,” she said.

“While men tend to cause more damage because they are usually stronger, women can even the odds with weapons such as knives, high heels and sharp nails.”

Dr Nivashinie said abused men were reluctant to turn to the authorities for fear of appearing “unmanly”.
“Society also teaches men that it's wrong to hit women, so they don't retaliate,” she added.

Many of the women who abused men were alcoholic while some could be suffering from certain personality disorders that cause them to be violent towards their partners.

MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said that some women were breadwinners and abused their husbands for “reckless spending”.

He also encountered four cases of wives becoming violent after learning that their spouses had affairs.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Ting Joe Hang said women might look on spouses who earn less as “useless” and as a result, would abuse them.

He said there may be reasons other than money problems.

Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Heng Seai Kie said there was no excuse for domestic violence and advised the victims both women and men to contact the Welfare Department or its 104 district offices nationwide or Talian Nur at 15999

By P. ARUNA and YUEN MEIKENG The Star/Asia News Network