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Michael Jordan Celebrity Golf Tournament to be Held in The Bahamas

``I am confident that this event will become one of the premier celebrity golf tournaments in the world,'' said Michael Jordan. ``I look forward to hosting serious celebrity golfers at the beautiful and new Ocean Club Golf Course for what will be a fun-filled weekend of festivities.''

The MJCI will feature 36 celebrity golfers from the worlds of sports and entertainment as well as amateur participants, including event sponsors and representatives of the Bahamian corporate and local community competing in two separate events. The event will consist of a two-day Celebrity-Am, pairing one celebrity with three amateurs and a two-day ``Celebrity Pairs.'' The players will compete for a total purse of $250,000. The event has designated donations of $300,000 for the Ronald McDonald Houses of North Carolina and $25,000 for a local Bahamian charity.

``The Ocean Club is proud to welcome the Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational to Paradise Island and looks forward to hosting the tournament for years to come,'' said Howard Karawan, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Sun International. ``Michael's recent acquisition of oceanfront property at the exclusive Ocean Club Estates perfectly complements and enhances what is surely to become a world-renowned golf community.''

An NBA legend, Michael Jordan is the President of Basketball Operations for the Washington Wizards. During his stellar NBA career, Jordan virtually rewrote the NBA record book as a six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, an 11-time All-Star and a member of six NBA Championship teams. Following a brief hiatus after his retirement as a player in January of 1999, Jordan returned to the NBA in January 2000 as the head of the Wizards' Basketball Operations. A long-time philanthropist, Jordan and his wife Juanita have supported the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, UNCF/College Fund, Special Olympics and a variety of charitable organizations that support children and families. Jordan previously hosted the Michael Jordan Celebrity Golf Classic in Greenville, North Carolina, which has raised over $2 million over the past 15 years for the Ronald McDonald Houses of North Carolina.

World-renowned golf course designer Tom Weiskopf was commissioned to design the Ocean Club Golf Course, which is set on the eastern end of Paradise Island and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and Nassau Harbour. Weiskopf's scenic par 72 course takes advantage of the magnificent Bahamian landscape and island cross winds, challenging golfers' precision and accuracy. The Ocean Club Golf Course, which offers panoramic views of the lush course and cerulean waters, will attract every caliber of golfer, and challenge the most experienced of players, luring them back again and again. Troon Golf, a U.S.-based high-end golf development, marketing, and management company involved in several of Weiskopf's other projects, has been retained to manage the Ocean Club Golf Course.

Under the ownership of Sol Kerzner and Sun International, the legendary Paradise Island hideaway, The Ocean Club, has just completed a spectacular $100 million renovation and expansion which, in addition to the Ocean Club Golf Course, includes 50 new oceanfront rooms and suites; Dune Restaurant, Jean Georges Vongerichten's first island restaurant, which is being designed by Christian Liaigre; 121 private homesites and a full-service spa which will debut early next year.

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