The 2006 International Elite Golf Invitational took place yesterday in Beijing Links Golf Club to celebrate the 25th anniversary of China Daily, the country's only national English-language daily.
At least 45 representatives from overseas and domestic companies, including auto production giants Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai, Thailand's leading company Chia Tai Group, IBM and Lenovo, took part in the one- day tournament, which is also the first one of the year's all four competitions.
"This invitational is a very important part of the 25th anniversary celebration of China Daily. On June 1 of 1981, China Daily was established as the only national English language daily," said Qu Yingpu, editorial board member of China Daily.
"China Daily has been developing rapidly these years, and we would like to thank our friends for the support in the past years."
A number of awards were offered for the winners, including the longest drive in the 5th hole, the nearest-to-the-pin in the 15th and the hole-in-one in the 17th.
The winner of the hole-in-one would have been awarded an Audi A4 car but no one was able to make it.
"The invitational is not just to give awards but to offer a platform for everyone to make friends with people from different fields," said Qu.
"We also want to take this opportunity to thank our business partners. They are the major source of energy for our development."
China Daily has launched various platforms for exchanges between China and the outside world; and to date, it has hosted dozens of sessions of the China Daily CEO Roundtable (http://ceoroundtable.chinadaily.com.cn/), a high-profile forum for multinationals doing business in China
This Invitational is also part of the efforts to help develop China's golf. China's golf has been taking giant strides in the past 20 years in terms of the number of golf courses, golf enthusiasts and different kinds of competitions.
(China Daily 05/20/2006 page11)
