Asian Tour

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. Official money events on the tour count for World Golf Ranking points.

This article is about the professional golf tour that started in 1995. For the tour that ran from 1962 until the late 1990s, see Asia Golf Circuit.

Asian Tour
Current season, competition or edition:
2020 Asian Tour
FormerlyAsian PGA Tour
Omega Tour
Davidoff Tour
SportGolf
Founded1994
Inaugural season1995
DirectorJimmy Masrin
CountriesBangladesh
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Japan
South Korea
Macau
Malaysia
Mauritius
Philippines
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Vietnam
Most titles Thaworn Wiratchant (18)
Official websiteAsianTour.com

The Asian Tour is administered from 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 chairman of the board is the Indonesian businessman Jimmy Masrin.

History

The Asian PGA was formed in July 1994 at a meeting in Hong Kong attended by PGA representatives from eight countries. The first season of the APGA Omega Tour, as it was known for sponsorship reasons, was played in 1995 and within a few years it had supplanted the existing tour in the region, the Asia Golf Circuit that was run by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, as the leading golf tour in Asia outside of Japan. In 1998 the Asian Tour became the sixth member of the International Federation of PGA Tours.[1] Under a new sponsorship deal, between 1999 and 2003 the tour was known as the Davidoff Tour, before adopting its current name in 2004.

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,[2] which is also the home to what was at that time the tour's richest sole sanctioned tournament, the Singapore Open.

In 2009 a rival tour, the OneAsia Tour, was established. Relations between the two tours are hostile.

In 2010, the Asian Tour launched the Asian Development Tour (ADT) as a developmental circuit. Five events were played the first year. By 2015 the tour had expanded to holding 28 tournaments with US$2.2 million of prize money.

Players

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).

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.

Among the ways to obtain an Asian Tour card is to be among the top 35 (including ties) at the Tour's qualifying school, finishing in the top 5 of the Asian Development Tour Order of Merit, and placing in the top 60 of the previous season's Order of Merit. The winner of the Asian Tour Order of Merit also receives entry into The Open Championship.

Tournaments and prize money
See also: 2020 Asian Tour

Each year the Asian Tour co-sanctions a number of events with the European Tour, with these events offering higher prize funds than most of the other tournaments on the tour as a result. While most of these tournaments have been in Asia, the Omega European Masters in Switzerland has been co-sanctioned from 2009 to 2017. In addition, the two tours sometimes tri-sanction events with the Sunshine Tour or PGA Tour of Australasia in those tours' respective regions. The Asian Tour also co-sanctions tournaments with the Japan Golf Tour.

Since 2008, 50 percent of players' earnings from the US Open and The Open Championship have counted towards the Asian Tour's Order of Merit. The two Opens were singled out from the other majors because they have open qualifying which Asian Tour members may enter.[3]

Asia's richest event, the HSBC Champions, was first played in November 2005 with a prize fund of $5 million. The tournament is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the earnings were counted towards the money list for its first three years before it became a World Golf Championships event in 2009. From 2009 to present, the earnings are not counted towards the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Another limited-field event in Malaysia, the CIMB Classic, was launched in 2010 with a $6 million purse. The first Asian Tour event to be co-sanctioned by the US-based PGA Tour began as an unofficial event on that tour, but it started to offer official money and FedEx Cup points in 2013.

In 2016, the tour's richest sole-sanctioned event was the Venetian Macao Open, with a prize fund of $1.1 million.

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$)
2009 28 39,150,000[4]
2008 32 43,550,000[5]
2007 28 27,730,000
2006 26 23,990,000
2005 27 20,115,000
2004 21 11,400,000

Order of Merit winners
YearLeading playerCountryEarnings (US$)
2019Jazz Janewattananond Thailand1,058,524
2018Shubhankar Sharma India755,994
2017Gavin Green Malaysia585,813
2016Scott Hend Australia1,004,792
2015Anirban Lahiri India1,139,084
2014David Lipsky United States713,901
2013Kiradech Aphibarnrat Thailand1,127,855
2012Thaworn Wiratchant Thailand738,047
2011Juvic Pagunsan Philippines788,299
2010Noh Seung-yul South Korea822,361
2009Thongchai Jaidee Thailand981,932
2008Jeev Milkha Singh India1,452,702
2007Liang Wenchong China532,590
2006Jeev Milkha Singh India591,884
2005Thaworn Wiratchant Thailand510,122
2004Thongchai Jaidee Thailand381,930
2003Arjun Atwal India284,018
2002Jyoti Randhawa India266,263
2001Thongchai Jaidee Thailand353,060
2000Simon Dyson England282,370
1999Kyi Hla Han Myanmar204,210
1998Kang Wook-soon South Korea150,772
1997Mike Cunning United States170,619
1996Kang Wook-soon South Korea183,737
1995Lin Keng-chi Taiwan177,856

Leading career money winners

The table below shows the leading money winners on the Asian Tour as of 16 October 2016. The official site has a top 100 list which also shows each player's winnings for 1995 to 2016.[6]

RankPlayerCountryPrize money (US$)
1Thongchai Jaidee Thailand5,485,537
2Thaworn Wiratchant Thailand4,493,844
3Scott Hend Australia3,795,696
4Prayad Marksaeng Thailand3,533,551
5Jeev Milkha Singh India3,487,029
6Jyoti Randhawa India3,455,859
7Liang Wenchong China3,426,632
8Anirban Lahiri India3,034,434
9Prom Meesawat Thailand2,776,891
10Chapchai Nirat Thailand2,664,047

See also

Notes and references
  1. Robinson, Spencer (16 July 1998). "Asian PGA welcomed into world club". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  2. "Asian Tour Moves to New Home on Sentosa" (Press release). Asian Tour. 14 August 2007.
  3. "Major Incentive for Tour Stars" (Press release). Asian Tour. 12 February 2008. Archived from the original on 27 May 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  4. The 2009 total prize fund includes 50% of the purses at the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and the HSBC Champions.
  5. The figure shown is based on information on the official site as of 12 February 2008. The 2008 total prize fund includes 50% of the purses at the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and the HSBC Champions.
  6. "Career Earnings". Asian Tour. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
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