The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan (which has its own Japan Golf Tour). It is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Official World Golf Ranking points.

Asian Tour
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 Asian Tour
FormerlyAsian PGA Tour
Omega Tour
Davidoff Tour
SportGolf
Founded1994
First season1995
CEOCho Minn Thant
DirectorJimmy Masrin
CountriesBased in Asia[a]
Most titlesOrder of Merit titles:
Thailand Thongchai Jaidee (3)
Tournament wins:
Thailand Thaworn Wiratchant (18)
Related
competitions
Asian Development Tour
Official websitehttp://www.asiantour.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

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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

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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

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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.

Starting in 2022, the Saudi International became its signature event and became its richest sole-sanctioned event. That same year, the International Series was launched, with the Order of Merit winner earning a spot in the LIV Golf League.

Order of Merit winners

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Season Winner Points
2023   Andy Ogletree 2,129
Season Winner Prize money (US$)
2022   Sihwan Kim 627,458
2020–21–22   Tom Kim 507,553
2019   Jazz Janewattananond 1,058,524
2018   Shubhankar Sharma 755,994
2017   Gavin Green 585,813
2016   Scott Hend 1,004,792
2015   Anirban Lahiri 1,139,084
2014   David Lipsky 713,901
2013   Kiradech Aphibarnrat 1,127,855
2012   Thaworn Wiratchant (2) 738,047
2011   Juvic Pagunsan 788,299
2010   Noh Seung-yul 822,361
2009   Thongchai Jaidee (3) 981,932
2008   Jeev Milkha Singh (2) 1,452,702
2007   Liang Wenchong 532,590
2006   Jeev Milkha Singh 591,884
2005   Thaworn Wiratchant 510,122
2004   Thongchai Jaidee (2) 381,930
2003   Arjun Atwal 284,018
2002   Jyoti Randhawa 266,263
2001   Thongchai Jaidee 353,060
2000   Simon Dyson 282,370
1999   Kyi Hla Han 204,210
1998   Kang Wook-soon (2) 150,772
1997   Mike Cunning 170,619
1996   Kang Wook-soon 183,787
1995   Lin Keng-chi 177,856

Awards

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Season Player of the Year Rookie of the Year
2023   Andy Ogletree   Kho Taichi
Season Players' Player of the Year Rookie of the Year
2022   Sihwan Kim   Kim Bi-o
2020–21–22 No awards
2019   Jazz Janewattananond   Sadom Kaewkanjana
2018   John Catlin   Park Sang-hyun
2017   Gavin Green   Micah Lauren Shin
2016   Scott Hend   Scott Vincent
2015   Anirban Lahiri (2)   Natipong Srithong
2014   Anirban Lahiri   Cameron Smith
2013   Kiradech Aphibarnrat   Richard T. Lee
2012   Thaworn Wiratchant (2)   Masanori Kobayashi
2011   Juvic Pagunsan   Tjaart van der Walt
2010   Noh Seung-yul   Rikard Karlberg
2009   Thongchai Jaidee (3)   Chinnaswamy Muniyappa
2008   Jeev Milkha Singh (2)   Noh Seung-yul
2007   Liang Wenchong   Scott Hend
2006   Jeev Milkha Singh   Juvic Pagunsan
2005   Thaworn Wiratchant   Shiv Kapur
2004   Thongchai Jaidee (2)   Adam Groom
2003   Arjun Atwal   Marcus Both
2002   Jyoti Randhawa   Kevin Na
2001   Thongchai Jaidee   Ted Oh
2000   Simon Dyson   Simon Dyson
1999   Kyi Hla Han   Kenny Druce
1998   Chris Williams   Ed Fryatt
1997   Prayad Marksaeng   Ted Purdy
1996   Kang Wook-soon   Jeff Wagner
1995   Lin Keng-chi   Arjun Atwal

Leading career money winners

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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.[4]

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

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Schedules have also included events in Australia, Egypt, England, Fiji, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Switzerland.

References

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  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. ^ "Career Earnings". Asian Tour. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
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