KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank will play host to the new Maybank Championship Malaysia next February as the regional banking giant ends its decade-long support of the Malaysian Open.

The new tournament – jointly sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours – will offer a prize purse of US$3 million with the venue yet to be named. Promoting this new regional platform will be long time Maybank partner and leading sports event promoter GlobalOne.

Having helped raise the standards of amateurs and professional golfers in the country via its title sponsorship of the national Open, Maybank’s intention is to continue to have the largest number of appropriately qualified Malaysian golfers participate in its forthcoming tournament.

“Next year will also be a milestone year for golf as it will be featured as an event at the 2016 Olympics for the first time, and we want the Maybank Championship Malaysia to be an important staging point for our professional golfers who can represent the country in Rio,” said Maybank chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor.

“Our considerations to have Maybank’s own championship are to ensure that our objectives in projecting our brand to our stakeholders worldwide and to support our community aspirations can be sustained in the best possible way.”

Megat added that Maybank was honoured to have played a significant role in raising the visibility and profile of the Malaysian Open over the last 10 years.

“We believe that now is an opportune time for Maybank to introduce our flagship championship profiling our significant role in ASEAN community building. Hence, with this championship, we will also be nurturing budding ASEAN golfing talents by providing a fixed number of spots to other ASEAN golfing talents.”

“For this next championship, we want the venue to best provide the challenge expected by the top-class field, yet fulfill our other aspirations to promote Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia, not just as a golf destination but also its rich heritage and diversity,” he added.