• Pinx GC, Jeju Island, the venue for the Ballantine’s Championship, will make history by becoming the first European Tour event to be staged in Korea.
• The visit to Korea marks the 38th different nation to play host to a European Tour event. Korea represents the tenth different Asian country to hold a European Tour International Schedule event.
• The European Tour have been to two new destinations in the 2008 season – India (EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters and the Johnnie Walker Classic) and Korea (Ballantine’s Championship). This marks the first time since 2005 that The European Tour have played in two new countries for the first time in the same year. They were: Indonesia (Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open) and New Zealand Open (New Zealand Open).
• Korea has seen three different winners on The European Tour. They are: K J Choi (2003 German Masters), Charlie Wi (2006 Maybank Malaysian Open) and Y E Yang (2007 (HSBC Champions)
• Padraig Harrington has a fine record in Asia. He will be seeking his fourth professional victory in his fourth different country. The wins were: 2003 BMW Asian Open (Taiwan), 2004 Omega Hong Kong Open (Hong Kong) and 2006 Dunlop Phoenix (Japan).
