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About Omega
The prestige watch manufacturer OMEGA was founded in Switzerland in 1848 and since then has continually set the pace in the many fields of watchmaking, from sports timekeeping and design awards to watches for professional use in space or underwater. OMEGA is closely associated with a world of achievements including the conquest of space, timekeeping at 23 Olympic Games and numerous precision records as well as the launch in 1999 of the revolutionary Co-Axial calibre, one of the 20th century's major innovations in mechanical watchmaking designed with the English master watchmaker George Daniels. Having just finished the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, OMEGA will continue to be the Official Timekeeper for the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games.
Mission Hills Golf Club, China
Mission Hills Golf Club is the world’s largest golf complex as accredited by the Guinness World Records. Its twelve 18-hole golf courses are designed by the game’s greatest players and course architects, and spread across an area of over 20 square kilometers from Shenzhen to Dongguan in Southern China, just 30 minutes outside of Hong Kong. Mission Hills has made a name for itself in the world of premier golf through its pioneering role in developing golf in China and the region, and being host to some of the continents most important golf tournaments. Mission Hills is the host venue of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup for twelve years consecutive years through 2018.
Mission Hills’ twelve golf courses are designed by the most important golf legends of the 20th and 21st Century and include Americans Jack Nicklaus, David Duval, and Pete Dye, England’s Nick Faldo and David Leadbetter, Japan’s Jumbo Ozaki, South Africa’s Ernie Els, Fiji’s Vijay Singh, Australia’s Greg Norman, Spain’s José Maria Olazabal, Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam and China’s Zhang Lian Wei. These designers have won numerous international golf championships and are considered to be some of the most influential golf course architects of our time. The courses reflect the style, skills and design philosophies of each player, and, like nowhere else in the world, offer golfers of all levels unique and diverse challenges to hone their game or match themselves with the world’s best. Among the 216 holes, 36 holes are equipped with floodlights, which allow golfers to play until 2 o’clock in the morning.
Mission Hills offers a wide range of facilities to golfers and non-golfers. Besides the 51-court floodlit tennis center and Tennis Academy at the Mission Hills Country Club, it also houses three golf academies managed by greats such as David Leadbetter and Cindy Reid. Mission Hills also features a 5-star Resort, 3 world-class spa facilities and luxurious residential developments. As befitting a club of this stature, the golf club was voted “Golf Resort of the Year” for the Rest of the World category by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO) in 2005. Domestically, the club has been listed as one of the Ten Sights in Shenzhen and is a nationally recognized AAAA-rated tourism resort.
In 2004, Mission Hills won awards from the International Awards for Liveable Communities, include the 1st Place Gold Award and 1st Place Natural Award in the Environmentally Sustainable Project Category. In 2005, Mission Hills China was bestowed with two prestigious 5-star awards at the Bentley International Property Awards in London in recognition of its excellence in golf and luxurious property developments.
The Mission Hills Golf Club has hosted over 100 international tournaments since beginning operations in 1992. The Club has successfully hosted the 41st World Cup of Golf in 1995 (the first international tournament to be hosted in China), the 1998 International Women’s Tennis Challenge, the 1998 Johnnie Walker Super Tour, the Centennial Davis Cup in 1999, and the China Open Snooker Championship in 2000.
In November 2001, the club invited the world’s number one golf professional, Tiger Woods, to China. It was his first ever visit to the country, and has helped establish a new era in the development of golf in China. The 1st and 2nd Dynasty Cup, jointly organized by the Asian PGA, Japan Golf Tour Organization and China Golf Association, were hosted by Mission Hills in 2003 and 2005. This Ryder-Cup style tournament featured top players from the Asian PGA Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organization.
Together with The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales, Mission Hills hosted the inaugural Goodwill Trophy and Business Forum in 2006, putting the best golfers from the Ryder Cup countries against the rest of the world; it created a unique environment, bringing together leading personalities from the world of golf and business. In 2006, Mission Hills and the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation jointly developed the annual Mission Hills Asia-Pacific Open Amateur Championship, the first Asian amateur tournament to offer exemptions to major professional tournaments, and a precursor to the Asian Amateur Championship launched at Mission Hills in October 2009.
Mission Hills is also the home of the Faldo Series Asia tournament, Mission Hills Jack Nicklaus Junior Championship and the Omega Mission Hills World Cup.
