World No.33 Pornanong Phatlum and Nontaya Srisawang will lead the challenge at next month's Thailand LPGA Masters, organisers confirmed yesterday.
Nontaya Srisawang
The most lucrative domestic ladies tournament, with a total purse of three million baht, will be held at Bangkok's Panya Indra Golf Club from Sept 3-5.
Defending champion Pornanong will be the top star in the 78-player field, while Nontaya is playing on the Ladies European Tour, where she is 47th on the Order of Merit.
The top 30 players in the ThaiLPGA Tour rankings are eligible for the tournament, along with 10 amateur golfers.
The winner will earn 520,000 baht and the last-placed player will get 30,296 baht.
Apart from local players, there will also be participants from Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, India and Australia.
Patinya Kuantrakul, president of the Thai Ladies Professional Golf Association, said that it was another big step for the association to host such a big tournament for golfers who want to improve their skills and chase handsome prize money.
"With support from the Sports Authority of Thailand, we are able to increase the total purse from 1.5 million to three million baht,'' said Patinya.
ThaiLPGA official Sarinee Leksuwan said the ThaiLPGA would try to make the tournament an invitation event and a flagship event in Southeast Asia.
"With support from the SAT, we are sure that it will become an annual event,'' she said.