The top event to decide the Asia Pacific No.1 - Heroes are born here.

The 2009 Asia Pacific Open Golf Championship Panasonic Open, a four day event from September 24 (Thu) to 27 (Sun), is held at Joyo Country Club this year.

The tournament is hosted by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), Panasonic Corporation and Japan Golf Association (JGA) and is truly the top event in the golf calendar in Japan as well as in the Asia Pacific region, attracting both professional and amateur players of the highest caliber.

By special agreement between the Japan Golf Tour and the Asian Tour, the tournament is an official prize money event that counts towards rankings in both the Japan and Asian tours. W. Liang and M. Brown, the Asian Tour contingents, went into the top 5 last year while the winner Hideto Tanihara and Azuma Higashi played a really exciting dead heat. Such is the level of this tournament, a new hero who is to preside over the Japan and Asian golf scenes will be born here.

This is the first Tour tournament to be held in Kyoto. The venue, Joyo Country Club, is a highly rated prestigious golf course in the Kansai region, which opened in 1957, during the golf boom triggered by the Japanese win in the Canada Cup (presently the World Cup). Designed by Giichi Sato, the hilly parkland course with 36 holes (East and West Courses) demands of players a wide range of technique and a high level of course management, being highly praised for its strategical interest. 16 holes of the East Course and 2 holes of the West Course will be used in the tournament.

Ryo Ishikawa of Panasonic will play in the tournament as the host player. Ishikawa, whose earnings exceeded 100 million yen last year at the youngest ever age of 17, has been enjoying impressive wins in the Kansai region, including the Kansai Open and the MyNavi ABC championship. Though he did not qualify for the tournament last year he's sure to take revenge this year, and may even win it, since he is on top form this time after qualifying for the US Tour at the second attempt and competing at The Masters as the youngest ever. He is to play at the PGA Championship, again the youngest in history. A bright future awaits him!

September 09 - Watch out for a fierce battle between top players from Japan and overseas.