It includes a number of leading players from the Ladies European Tour (LET), such as England's Melissa Reid and South African Lee-Anne Pace. Also scheduled to compete are the best Chinese players from the LPGA Tour. Leading amateur Lydia Ko – one of the youngest ever players, male or female, to win a professional event will also participate.

Conceived by Mission Hills, the WLC is a new, ground breaking event designed to support the further development of tournament golf - both in China and around the world - ahead of golf's return to the Olympics in 2016.

The Championships, to be played on the Mission Hills, Haikou Vintage Course, will adopt a unique three-in-one game format that will see players competing as individuals as well as for the pride of their country. There will be concurrent, 54-hole competitions in three categories - individual professional stroke-play, individual amateur stroke-play and professional teams.

As the event is a stroke-play competition, professional players taking part in the team event will be competing against their playing partners in the solo competition for the Individual Professional title.

The Professional Team competition will see Melissa Reid, who finished second on the LET money list in 2011 and won two LET tournaments, join forces with up-and-coming compatriot, Florentyna Parker.

Reid said: "I'm really excited to be coming to Mission Hills Hainan for the World Ladies Championships. I've never been to Mission Hills before and I've heard so many great things about it that it will be good to finally see it for myself!

"It's always great to play in a team event. It's something that we don't often get to do once we turn professional. Florentyna and I have known each other since we were about 13-years-old so we go back a long way and we will be very comfortable playing with each other."

Reid and Parker will face tough competition from South African pair Lee-Anne Pace and Ashleigh Simon, who won the 2011 Portugal Ladies Open. Pace had a fantastic season in 2010 when she won five LET titles and finished top the order of merit.

Co-sanctioned by the LET and China LPGA Tour, the WLC will offer a total prize purse of US$600,000. Its field will feature 108 elite players, from the LET, as well as the LPGA Tours of the U.S., Korea, Japan and China.

Tenniel Chu, Vice-Chairman of Mission Hills Group said: "On behalf of Mission Hills I am delighted to welcome all the players to the inaugural World Ladies Championships at Mission Hills Hainan.

"Hosting the tournament shows our continued commitment to bring the biggest and best golf tournaments to Mission Hills and to help further develop the game of golf in China."