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). 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.

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:
Current sports event 2023 Asian Tour
FormerlyAsian PGA Tour
Omega Tour
Davidoff Tour
SportGolf
Founded1994
Inaugural season1995
CEOCho Minn Thant
DirectorJimmy Masrin
CountriesBased in Asia[lower-alpha 1]
Most titlesOrder of Merit titles:
3: Thailand Thongchai Jaidee
Tournament wins:
18: Thailand Thaworn Wiratchant
Related
competitions		Asian Development Tour
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: 2023 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.

Order of Merit winners
SeasonWinnerPrize money (US$)
2022United States Sihwan Kim627,458
2020–21–22South Korea Tom Kim507,553
2019Thailand Jazz Janewattananond1,058,524
2018India Shubhankar Sharma755,994
2017Malaysia Gavin Green585,813
2016Australia Scott Hend1,004,792
2015India Anirban Lahiri1,139,084
2014United States David Lipsky713,901
2013Thailand Kiradech Aphibarnrat1,127,855
2012Thailand Thaworn Wiratchant (2)738,047
2011Philippines Juvic Pagunsan788,299
2010South Korea Noh Seung-yul822,361
2009Thailand Thongchai Jaidee (3)981,932
2008India Jeev Milkha Singh (2)1,452,702
2007China Liang Wenchong532,590
2006India Jeev Milkha Singh591,884
2005Thailand Thaworn Wiratchant510,122
2004Thailand Thongchai Jaidee (2)381,930
2003India Arjun Atwal284,018
2002India Jyoti Randhawa266,263
2001Thailand Thongchai Jaidee353,060
2000England Simon Dyson282,370
1999Myanmar Kyi Hla Han204,210
1998South Korea Kang Wook-soon (2)150,772
1997United States Mike Cunning170,619
1996South Korea Kang Wook-soon183,737
1995Taiwan Lin Keng-chi177,856

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.[4]

RankPlayerPrize money (US$)
1Thailand Thongchai Jaidee5,485,537
2Thailand Thaworn Wiratchant4,493,844
3Australia Scott Hend3,795,696
4Thailand Prayad Marksaeng3,533,551
5India Jeev Milkha Singh3,487,029
6India Jyoti Randhawa3,455,859
7China Liang Wenchong3,426,632
8India Anirban Lahiri3,034,434
9Thailand Prom Meesawat2,776,891
10Thailand Chapchai Nirat2,664,047

Awards
SeasonPlayers' Player of the YearRookie of the YearRef.
2022United States Sihwan KimSouth Korea Kim Bi-o[5]
2020–21–22No awards
2019Thailand Jazz JanewattananondThailand Sadom Kaewkanjana[6]
2018United States John CatlinSouth Korea Park Sang-hyun[7]
2017Malaysia Gavin GreenUnited States Micah Lauren Shin[8][9]
2016Australia Scott HendZimbabwe Scott Vincent[10]
2015India Anirban Lahiri (2)Thailand Natipong Srithong[11][12]
2014India Anirban LahiriAustralia Cameron Smith[13]
2013Thailand Kiradech AphibarnratCanada Richard T. Lee[14]
2012Thailand Thaworn Wiratchant (2)Japan Masanori Kobayashi[15]
2011Philippines Juvic PagunsanSouth Africa Tjaart van der Walt[16]
2010South Korea Noh Seung-yulSweden Rikard Karlberg[17]
2009Thailand Thongchai Jaidee (2)India Chinnaswamy Muniyappa[18]
2008India Jeev Milkha Singh (2)South Korea Noh Seung-yul[19]
2007China Liang WenchongAustralia Scott Hend[20]
2006India Jeev Milkha SinghPhilippines Juvic Pagunsan[21]
2005Thailand Thaworn WiratchantIndia Shiv Kapur[22]
2004Thailand Thongchai JaideeAustralia Adam Groom[23][24]
2003India Arjun AtwalAustralia Marcus Both[25]
2002India Jyoti RandhawaUnited States Kevin Na[26]

See also

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

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. "Career Earnings". Asian Tour. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  5. "Sihwan Kim, Saudi International, International Series Thailand, Madinaty win the votes!". Asian Tour. 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  6. "Asian Tour stars celebrated at Awards Gala". Golf Australia. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  7. "Catlin caps off 2018 with Asian Tour Players' Player of the year accolade". Big Golf Blog. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  8. "Gavin Green Named Asian Tour Player of the Year 2017". HK Golfer. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  9. Asian Tour [@asiantourgolf] (19 November 2018). "American @MICahshin1 adapted immaculately to the Asian Tour and excelled beyond expectations in his first full season" (Tweet). Retrieved 3 January 2023 – via Twitter.
  10. "Hend wins Asian Tour Players' Player of the Year 2016 Award". PHT News. 23 December 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  11. "Lahiri wins Hilton Asian Tour Golfer of the Year award". The Times of India. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  12. Asian Tour [@asiantourgolf] (29 March 2016). "A bit congratulations to @0810145917 Natipong Srithong for sweeping the 2015 Rookie of the Year Award" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 January 2023 – via Twitter.
  13. "Anirban Lahiri voted 2014 Asian Tour Players' Player of the year". Indian Express. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  14. Thongsombat, Kittipong (24 April 2014). "Thongchai, Kiradech win Tour awards". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  15. "Thaworn sweeps Asian Tour awards". Pakistan Today. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  16. Flores, Adrian (23 December 2011). "Pinoy bet Pagunsan receives Asian Tour awards". GMA News. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  17. "Teenager Noh makes Asian Tour history". CNN Sport. 20 December 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  18. "Muniyappa named Asian Tour Rookie of the Year". Times of India. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  19. "Jeev grabs top honours at Asian Tour Awards". Two Circles. 22 December 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  20. "China's Wenchong caps year with three Asian Tour awards". The Star. 11 December 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  21. "Jeev sweeps top Asian golf awards". Rediff News. 18 December 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  22. "Thaworn's the toast of Asian Tour awards night". Asian Tour. 12 December 2005. Archived from the original on 28 December 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  23. "Thongchai's the toast of Asian Tour awards night". Asian Tour. Archived from the original on 22 February 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  24. "Groom grabs rookie honour". PGA Tour of Australasia. 22 February 2005. Archived from the original on 7 September 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  25. "Atwal Voted Asian PGA Players' Player Of The Year". Asian PGA. 15 December 2003. Archived from the original on 2 January 2004. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  26. "India's Randhawa Wins Order of Merit Title". Asian PGA. Archived from the original on 18 February 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
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