Suzann Pettersen and Cristie Kerr head to Brazil - LPGA effort to promote Golf in Brazil
World number four, Norwegian Suzann Pettersen and world number five, Cristie Kerr of the United States, have joined hands with HSBC Ladies Professional Golfers Association (LPGA) Brazil Cup in an effort to promote the game of golf in Brazil. Both the players confirmed their presence in the wake of the decision to endorse Golf as an Olympic game by International Olympic Committee (IOC). Golf will be part of the Olympics 2016 to be held in Rio de Janeiro for the first time since 1904.
Six times LPGA winner, 29-year-old Pettersen, was part of the delegation that successfully presented the suggestion to give golf an Olympics status in front of the IOC at Copenhagen in December, 2009. “We’re on a mission! Clearly, Rio 2016 is going to be a landmark, but we need to lay the foundations. That’s why it’s so important to be taking part in this year’s HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup. We need sports fans in Brazil to know who we are and how good we are and we need to increase their desire to see us battling for Olympic an Olympic gold medal in five years time,” Pettersen said, “We need to do it because it will build a stronger future for women's golf. For me, the Olympics is something special and it has been a dream to take part in it. Its vision and ideas are something all of us can stand behind."
The HSBC Brazil Cup is scheduled to take place at the Itanhanga Golf Club in Rio De Janeiro on May 28th and 29thwith a purse of US $720,000 comprising a field of 30 players. 33-year-old Kerr called it a special occasion for Golf in Brazil. “This is the biggest single opportunity that women’s golf has ever had! It’s not about who wins the gold medal in five years’ time; it’s about an opportunity to grow and expand the sport more than it has ever grown before,” Kerr said.
The HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship Giles Morgan insisted that the Olympics status would prove to be a milestone for the game. He called out the huge attention, that Rio de Janerio is likely to capture for the next five years, to be the reason behind HSBC’s sponsorship for the limited field tournament.
According to some analysts, this tiny two day event may prove to be a giant leap in promoting Golf in a soccer mad nation which does not have any heritage of the game. Brazil has failed to produce a world class golfer until now. The competition is a far smaller scale tournament as compared to the other LPGA tournaments but can be essential in introducing Golf to a new country.
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