The Asian Tour – Developing and promoting the sport of golf throughout Asia

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Golf is a widely contested game not only on the global scale but in the regions as well including Asia. Regional tours usually contribute to the overall rankings of players which is what the Asian Tour is also known for.

Pushing Asian golf standards

The Asian Tour is one of the most significant golf tours in the Asia region which does not cover Japan. This is because there is a separate Japan Golf Tour.

The Asian Tour is part of the International Federation of PGA Tours where the official events will contribute to the points of the World Golf Rankings.

Administered in Singapore, a board of members made up mostly of professional golfers manages the tour.

Background of the Asian Tour

Back in 1994, a group of PGA representatives from 8 countries in Asia met in Hong Kong to form the Asian PGA. A year later, the first season known as APGA Omega Tour was held.

The following years saw the tour expanding before taking over from the Asia Golf Circuit organized by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation as the top golf tour in Asia.

The Asian Tour would then become the sixth member of the International Federation of PGA tours in 1998. From 1999 to 2003, the tour was named Davidoff Tour after its sponsors and then became the Asian Tour from 2004 onwards.

The tour moved to Malaysia from Hong Kong in 2002 and in 2 years, a new organization made up of players took over the tour due to a dispute. This would result in the tour moving to a resort island in Singapore in 2007.

The OneAsia Tour, a rival competition was established in 2009 when it has been known that both tours were not on good terms. A year after that, the ADT (Asian Development Tour) was launched by the Asian Tour.

In the first year, 5 events were organized and within the next 4 years, the tour has already grown to 28 tournaments offering more than US$2 million.

Competing in the Asian Tour

Players who participate in the tour are mostly from Asia countries although they can also come from other parts of the world. There was one edition when the Asian tour had the most prolific players from Australia.

Players working to get into the Asian Tour will have to:

  • Finish in the top 35 at the qualifying school of the Tour which includes ties
  • Top 5 of the Asian Development Tour Order of Merit
  • Top 60 of the Order of Merit from the last season.

It must be noted that the player who wins the Asian Order of Mert will qualify for the next Open Championship which contributes to the competitive nature of the Tour.

The latest edition of the Asian Tour is in 2022 which would be the 27th season. Formally the main professional golf tour for men besides Japan, 2022 saw the start of the International Series which will be taking place for the next 10 years.

There will be a series of 10 events that will be added to the Asian Tour in the International Series which come with LIV Golf-sponsored prize winnings between US$1.5 million and US$2 million.

The Asian Tour co-sanctions several events with the European Tour each year including the Omega European Masters from 2009 to 2017 which was held in Switzerland that saw the participation of players from across the region.

The richest sole-sanctioned event held in 2016 came with a prize-winning of US$1.1 million, the Venetian Macao Open.

The richest event is the HSBC Champions which came with a US$6 million prize-winning when it was first played back in 2005. The CIMB Classic, a limited-field event held in Malaysia is another prestigious event in the tour which came with a US$6 million prize-winning.

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