Asian Tour
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The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. The Asian Tour is administered from offices in Singapore. It is controlled by a board with a majority of professional golfers, and a Tournament Players Committee of its player members, supported by an executive team. The Executive Chairman of the Board is the Burmese professional golfer Kyi Hla Han.
The first season in the current lineage was played in 1995, although there had been earlier attempts to create an Asian Tour. The Asian PGA was formed in July 1994 at a meeting in Hong Kong attended by PGA representatives from eight countries. In 1998 the Asian Tour became the sixth member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. In 2002, the tour moved its office from Hong Kong to Malaysia and in 2004 the tour was taken over by a new organisation established by the players, who had been in dispute with the previous management. In 2007 it moved to new headquarters on the resort island of Sentosa in Singapore,[1] which is also the home of the tour's richest sole sanctioned tournament, the Singapore Open. Official money events on the tour count for World Golf Ranking points.
Most of the leading players on the tour are Asian, but players from other parts of the world also participate (as of 2007 the country with most representatives profiled on the tour's official site is Australia). Each year the Asian Tour co-sanctions a number of events with the European Tour, and these events offer higher prize funds than most of the other tournaments on the tour. From 2008, 50 per cent of players’ earnings from the US Open and the Open Championship will count towards the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit. The two Opens have been singled out from the other majors because they have open qualifying which Asian Tour members may enter.[2]
In 2004 the total prize fund was 11.4 million U.S. dollars, and by 2007 it had risen to 27.73 million U.S. dollars (all purses are fixed in dollars apart from those of The Open Championship and the Johnnie Walker Classic, which are fixed in British Pounds). However most of the tournaments with seven figure U.S. dollar purses are in events co-sanctioned by the European Tour, and European Tour players tend to collect most of the winnings in those tournaments. Asia's richest event, the $5 million HSBC Champions tournament, was first played in November 2005, is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour but did not count towards the money list for its first three years as any high placings by Asian Tour players would distort the money list, but from 2008 50% of the prize money will count towards the Order of Merit. The tour's richest sole sanctioned event is the Singapore Open, which will also reach the $5 million level in 2008. The tour's schedule remains quite unstable, with several in-season cancellations, reschedulings and prize fund alterations in 2007.
In 2006 the Asian Tour became the most prestigious men's tour on which a woman has made the half-way cut in recent times when Michelle Wie did so at the SK Telecom Open in South Korea.
[edit] Schedule
The table below shows the 2008 schedule.
The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Asian Tour events he had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Asian Tour members.
| Dates | Tournament | Country | Prize fund (US$) | Winner | OWGR pts | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 7-10 | Emaar-MGF Indian Masters | India | 2,500,000 |  Shiv Chowrasia (1) |
26 | New tournament, co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| Feb 14-17 | Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open | Indonesia | 1,200,000 |  Felipe Aguilar (N/A) |
20 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| Feb 20-23 | SAIL Open Golf Championship at Jaypee Greens | India | 400,000 |  Mark Brown (1) |
14 | New tournament |
| Feb 28- Mar 4 | Johnnie Walker Classic | India | 2,500,000 | Mark Brown (2) |
38 | Co-sanctioned by the European and Australasian tours |
| Mar 6-9 | Maybank Malaysian Open | Malaysia | 2,000,000 | Arjun Atwal (7) |
24 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| Mar 13-16 | Ballantine's Championship | South Korea | 2,900,000 |  Graeme McDowell (N/A) |
28 | New tournament, co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| Mar 20-23 | Asian Tour International | Thailand | 300,000 |  Lin Wen-tang (3) |
14 | New tournament |
| Mar 25-26 | Open Championship International Qualifying Asia | Singapore | N/A | N/A | N/A | 5 places at The Open Championship available |
| Apr 3-6 | Philippine Open | The Philippines | 300,000 |  Angelo Que (2) |
14 | |
| Apr 17-20 | Volvo China Open | China | 2,000,000 |  Damien McGrane (N/A) |
20 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| Apr 24-27 | BMW Asian Open | China | 2,300,000 | Darren Clarke (N/A) |
32 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| May 1-4 | GS Caltex Maekyung Open | South Korea | 600,000 |  Hwang Inn-choon (1) |
14 | |
| May 8-11 | Pine Valley Beijing Open | China | 1,000,000 |  Hiroyuki Fujita (N/A) |
16 | Co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour |
| June 5-8 | Bangkok Airways Open | Thailand | 300,000 |  Thaworn Wiratchant (10) |
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| June 12-15 | U.S. Open Championship | United States | 50% of 7,000,000 | Major championship. 50% of prize money counts towards Order of Merit. | ||
| June 26-29 | Singha Thailand PGA Championship | Thailand | 500,000 | new event | ||
| Summer break (British Open excepted) | ||||||
| July 17-20 | The Open Championship | United Kingdom | 50% of 8,600,000 | Major championship. 50% of prize money counts towards Order of Merit. | ||
| Aug 21-24 | Indonesian President Invitational | Indonesia | 350,000 | |||
| Aug 28 - 31 | Brunei Open | Brunei | 300,000 | |||
| Sep 18-21 | Mercuries Taiwan Masters | Taiwan | 500,000 | |||
| Sep 25-28 | Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open | Japan | 1,850,000 | New tournament, co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour | ||
| Oct 2-5 | Korea Open | South Korea | 1,000,000 | |||
| Oct 9-12 | Hero Honda Indian Open | India | 500,000 | |||
| Oct 16-19 | Midea China Classic | China | 500,000 | |||
| Oct 23-26 | Macau Open | Macau | 500,000 | |||
| Nov 6-9 | HSBC Champions | China | 50% of 5,000,000 | Co-sanctioned by the European, Australasian and Sunshine tours. 50% of prize money counts towards Order of Merit. | ||
| Nov 13-16 | Barclays Singapore Open | Singapore | 5,000,000 | Richest sole-sanctioned event | ||
| Nov 20-23 | Hong Kong Open | Hong Kong, China | 2,250,000 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour | ||
| Dec 4-7 | Vietnam Masters | Vietnam | 500,000 | |||
| Dec 11-14 | Cambodian Open | Cambodia | 300,000 | |||
| Dec 18-21 | Volvo Masters of Asia | Thailand | 750,000 | Limited to top 60 on the Order of Merit | ||
Source: [1]
[edit] Schedule by year
The table below summarises the development of the tour since 2004, when the current organisation took control.
| Year | Official money tournaments | Total prize fund (US$) |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 32 | 43,550,000[3][4] |
| 2007 | 28 | 27,730,000 |
| 2006 | 26 | 23,990,000 |
| 2005 | 27 | 20,115,000 |
| 2004 | 21 | 11,400,000 |
[edit] Leading money winners by year
| Year | Leading player | Country | Earnings (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Liang Wen-Chong |  China |
532,590 |
| 2006 | Jeev Milkha Singh | India |
591,884 |
| 2005 | Thaworn Wiratchant | Thailand |
510,122 |
| 2004 | Thongchai Jaidee | Thailand |
381,930 |
| 2003 | Arjun Atwal | India |
284,018 |
| 2002 | Jyoti Randhawa | India |
266,263 |
| 2001 | Thongchai Jaidee | Thailand |
353,060 |
| 2000 | Simon Dyson |  England |
282,370 |
| 1999 | Kyi Hla Han |  Myanmar |
204,210 |
| 1998 | Kang Wook-soon | South Korea |
150,772 |
| 1997 | Mike Cunning |  United States |
170,619 |
| 1996 | Kang Wook-soon | South Korea |
183,737 |
| 1995 | Lin Keng-chi |  Taiwan |
177,856 |
[edit] Leading career money winners
The table below shows the leading money winners on the Asian Tour as of the end of the 2007 season. The official site has a top 100 list which also shows each player's winnings for the last six years.
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize money (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thongchai Jaidee | Thailand |
2,605,237 |
| 2 | Jyoti Randhawa | India |
1,952,549 |
| 3 | Thaworn Wiratchant | Thailand |
1,861,733 |
| 4 | Prayad Marksaeng | Thailand |
1,680,233 |
| 5 | Simon Yates |  Scotland |
1,605,398 |
| 6 | Jeev Milkha Singh | India |
1,353,584 |
| 7 | Charlie Wi | South Korea |
1,291,829 |
| 8 | Thammanoon Srirot | Thailand |
1,205,595 |
| 9 | Liang Wen-Chong | China |
1,137,604 |
| 10 | Kang Wook-soon | South Korea |
1,131,658 |
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Asian Tour Moves to New Home on Sentosa, asiantour.com, 14 August 2007.
- ^ Major Incentive for Tour Stars, asiantour.com, 12 February 2008.
- ^ The 2008 schedule has not yet been finalised. The figure shown in based on information on the official site as at 12 February 2008.
- ^ From 2008 total prize fund includes 50% of the purses at the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and the HSBC Champions.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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