The Bangabandhu Cup Golf Bangladesh Open will make a welcome return to the Asian Tour schedule this season. The event, which was last staged in 2019, will be played at its regular home Kurmitola Golf Club in Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka, from November 24-27 and will offer a purse of USD400,000.

Postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament will make a popular return as the penultimate event of the 2022 season and will play a crucial role in determining the winner of the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

The tournament has the reputation of providing breakthrough wins for the next generation of Asian Tour stars such as Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana, who triumphed in the tournament three years ago, for his maiden success on the Asian Tour. In 2017, his compatriot Jazz Janewattananond also lifted his first Asian Tour trophy there which kick started a monumental run which included another five wins and the Asian Tour Order of Merit title in 2019.

Singaporean Mardan Mamat was victorious in 2015 which was the first year the event was played on the Asian Tour. India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar won in 2011 and Bangladesh’s most famous golfing son, Siddikur Rahman, triumphed in 2010. The Bangladesh Open was first played in 2009 as part of the Professional Golf Tour of India.

“The Bangabandhu Cup Golf Bangladesh Open is an essential part of the Asian Tour schedule and so we are absolutely delighted it will return this year," said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner and CEO, Asian Tour.

“The tournament presents everything that the Asian Tour is trying to achieve in terms of staging tournaments in new, untapped markets and helping to encourage golf at grass roots level. It’s a relatively new event with a very bright future.”

General S. M. Shafiuddin Ahmed, Chief of Army Staff, Bangladesh Army and President, Bangladesh Golf Federation, said: “We are proud to organise the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Bangladesh Open at Kurmitola Golf Club in the name of ‘The Father of the Nation’ who was a sports loving person.

“After two difficult years when we were unable to stage our National Open, we are overjoyed to see the tournament return during the current calendar year. Bangladesh being a promising golf country is honoured to be able to host such international sporting events on this scale. This Asian Tour event will be a tremendous boost for the game of golf in Bangladesh.”

Siddikur, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour, will once again lead to the local challenge. While his victory in the event happened before it joined the Asian Tour, he did come close to winning in 2017 when he was runner up.

Remarkably, the Bangladesh star learned the game as a caddie at Kurmitola Golf Club and has an incredible track record in tournaments there. He has claimed two Asian Development Tour events at Kurmitola - the 2011 Grameenphone Bangladesh Masters and the 2018 City Bank American Express Dhaka Open.