The Hainan branch of the European Tour Fans Club was officially launched today, introducing an exciting new initiative to the European Tour in China.
The innovative programme is a first for the European Tour in China, and encourages golf fans from all over the country to come together and play, watch and enjoy all that the European Tour has to offer.
By joining their local branches of Fans Clubs, members will be able to get into contact and communicate with followers of the sport from all over their country, discuss their shared passion, and win prizes.
Speaking at today’s announcement, Simon Leach, European Tour Director of the International Office, China, said: “We have four European Tour events in China, including the Shenzhen International, Volvo China Open, WGC-HSBC Champions and Hong Kong Open, plus two European Challenge Tour events which are the Hainan Open and Foshan Open.
“We are willing to promote our brand and image across the world and the upgrade of the Hainan Open to a Challenge Tour event this year is part of that plan.
“We can’t be successful without the support of our fans, and we really hope to expand our brand image and its global recognition by building a platform for those fans, by preparing some prizes from the European Tour and giving them to fans in return.”
Dai Yuying, a member of the European Tour Fans Club in Hainan and General Manager of Sanya Luhuitou GC, said: “Most of the people who play golf in Hainan are from outside of the island, as Hainan has always been a perfect place for people to play golf during winter. As the manager of the club of this week’s Challenge Tour event, we’ll try our best to help promote the development of golf in Hainan and the fans club.”
Yang Yongchang, an authorised founder of the European Tour Fans Club, said: “We are authorised to manage these fans clubs by the European Tour in September this year, and now we have 17 branches across the whole country. In the next two years, we plan to expand it to 50 cities in China and build a better fans club system for European Tour fans here.”
Cong Xinghai, the alternate Director General of the European Tour Fans Club in Yunnan, said: “I’m a huge fan of golf and as soon as I get the dates for European Tour events I put them in my schedule. We have about 100 members in our fans club in Yunnan and we’ve organised three competitions with bonus points given to members. All of us think it is a great platform to connect fans to this world class tour.”
Qin Tao, a member of the European Tour Fans Club in Hainan and President of China Datong Holding, said: “I used to work in golf and have always been a fan of the European Tour, but after joining the club, I feel I have become a part of the European Tour. Now I really believe it’s a great platform in terms of promoting the development of golf in Hainan, and in China as well.”
