Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 6 February 2009 - Next week will see the 48th edition of the Maybank Malaysian Open tee off at Saujana Golf and Country Club with 16 local players joining the star-studded line-up.

Twelve local professionals will be joined by four amateurs from the 12th - 15th February on the world renowned Palm Course and the Malaysian Golf Association (MGA) are delighted by the improvement in the standard of golf over the years. MGA President, Datuk Robin Loh shares his thoughts on the event and those representing the host country this year.

He said, "Our players have improved tremendously over the last year which is very encouraging for us all to see. We have three players who have qualified from Asian Tour Order of Merit - Ian Steel, Ben Leong and Danny Chia - which shows the high standard of golf they are playing. Airil Rizman gained entry into this event through his victory in Pakistan and I also have seen a vast improvement in our amateur players and I am hoping to see some of them make it into the final two days."

The National Qualifying event took place last month and gave five professionals their entry into the European Tour co-sanctioned event that boasts a US$2million prize purse and is part of the inaugural Race To Dubai.

Loh continued, "The MGA is the oldest governing body in the Asian region that has been involved in organising a National Open and we are proud to have played such an active role in the Maybank Malaysian Open for over 40 years. Ideally we would like to have more marquee events in the country to boost tourism and golf in general but as always, we need government and sponsor support for this to be possible. The Maybank Malaysian Open has brought heightened recognition to the country through TV coverage, world class player participation and international guests attending the tournament."

There have been some great moments at the Malaysian Open over the years but Loh has a particular special memory; "I remember 1996 in particular when P.Gunasegaran from Malaysia came so close to winning the title. That was very exciting for us all."

Looking ahead to the future of the sport and the role of the MGA, Loh concluded, "There is talk of the inclusion of golf into the Olympics and I think Malaysia would stand a very good chance of doing well in this. The MGA focuses strongly on junior development through national junior clinics and we are seeing the results of this coming through at both professional and amateur levels.

"We hope that the Ministry of Sport will move golf into the core sports so that we can improve our players performance with better funding in training and participation in overseas competition. We are also interested to work with ministry of tourism to help promote golf tourism, organise more events for all levels and continue to attract world class stars that we will see next week at Saujana for the 2009 Maybank Malaysian Open."