Kanchanaburi, Thailand: The inaugural Royal’s Cup will help raise the curtain on the Asian Tour’s exciting new season.

Offering a purse of US$400,000 the event will be played at Kanchanaburi’s Grand Prix Golf Club from February 24-27. It will be the first full-field Asian Tour event in Thailand in 2022.

The tournament was originally scheduled to take place in March 2020 but was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It has now been re-instated and will form part of an exciting series of events on the early 2022 Asian Tour schedule, to be released this month.

Dr Prachin Eamlumnow, Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Grand Prix International Public Ltd Company, said: “After nearly two years, we are glad that we can finally host the event next month.

“It’s our aim to promote Thailand as a world-class golfing destination and develop the game here through the staging of this event, held in honour of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun (Rama X), and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Grand Prix International Public Company Limited in 2020.

“With lucrative prizes on offer, we are confident it will be an exciting week of golf, not only for the players but also all the fans watching the live broadcast.”

The tournament is promoted by Grand Prix International, the company behind the Bangkok International Motor Show (BIMS), a major event on Thailand’s automotive scene for over 40 years.

In addition to the purse, a number of the latest model of sponsors cars will be on offer as Hole-in-One prizes on every par-three (holes 3, 5, 12 and 16), as well as prizes for any albatross on holes 2, 14 and 18.

The first player to achieve the feat on one of these holes will drive home one of the event sponsors vehicles which are: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Mazda, MG and Isuzu.

“We are very thankful to Grand Prix International for their commitment and are truly grateful for their patience over the past two years as we battled with the pandemic,” said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and CEO of the Asian Tour, a Full Business Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.

“It’s an honour to align with a respected and highly-regarded organiser like Grand Prix International and we are delighted that they have chosen to host their first professional golf event with the Asian Tour,” he added.

The Royal’s Cup will also mark the Tour’s maiden visit to Kanchanaburi, a town steeped in World War II history and situated approximately three hours’ drive from Bangkok.