JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL JOINS STAR LINE UP AT BMW ASIAN OPEN

Two times Masters Champion Jose Maria Olazabal will join a host of international golfers when he competes in the BMW Asian Open at The Westin Resort, Ta Shee, Taiwan from 22nd – 25th November 2001.

Olazabal will head full speed to the US$1.5 million tournament where he will tee up alongside six of the world’s best golfers - champion of BMW International Open American John Daly, Fiji’s Vijay Singh, New Zealander Michael Campbell, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez, England’s Nick Faldo and Italy’s Costantino Rocca.

The Spanish Ryder Cup player is enthusiastic about playing in this inaugural tournament: “Playing BMW tournaments is always great fun, and I’m already looking forward to the new BMW Asian Open in Taiwan”.

Olazabal completed one of the greatest triumphs over adversity in 1999 when he added a second Green Jacket to the Masters title he won five years earlier at Augusta National. There, he finished two shots clear of Davis love III for an emotional victory, four years after watching the Masters from his bed due to illness.

The Spaniard had to withdraw from the 1995 Ryder Cup suffering from a foot problem, eventually diagnosed as rheumatoid polyarthritis in both feet. He returned after an 18 months absence during which he could not even get out of bed.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, also from Spain has also just announced his appearance at the BMW event. The Ryder Cup player has played some outstanding golf over the last couple of seasons, in particular The US Open at Pebble Beach in 2000 when he tied for second place behind Tiger Woods. He is yet to win in 2001 but finished joint third in the Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes. Jimenez finished 17th on the Volvo Tour Order of Merit, 2001.

Daily ticket and season tickets will be available at over 200 ticket offices of Era in Taiwan. The price for daily tickets on Thursday and Friday is NT300 and tickets on Saturday and Sunday will be NT400 per ticket. Season tickets are available for NT800.