The revived and revitalized Asian Tour is hoping to have multiple events in Malaysia as part of its 2022/23 schedule, which is set to be the richest in its history at least in terms of sole-sanctioned events.
With the recent commitment by the Greg Norman-headed LIV Golf Investments to stage 10 annual tournaments on the tour over the next decade with combined prize money of more than US$200 million, Asian Tour commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant noted that they hope to have 25 to 30 events for their 2022/23 season and that Malaysia is very much on their radar.
“We always aim to stage between 25 and 30 events and we always get around 25 events together. It is a bit of a challenge doing that in some years but the 10 LIV Golf Investments events obviously form the backbone of something that we can work around. With COVID affecting so many different economies, so many different sponsors, we weren’t quite sure how many of our existing events would come back, but 25 is somewhat conservative. We expect existing tournaments in Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand to come back when travel restrictions ease.
“We are certainly looking at doing multiple events in Malaysia … hopefully the border restrictions will be reduced and our guys can travel in and out. The aim is to do between nine and 10 events in the first half of 2022 and really stack the second half of the season, which has usually been the case. Malaysia is very much part of the program for us,” said Cho.
“Malaysia is always very, very much one of the best destinations for the Asian Tour. We’ve enjoyed a great history of doing a lot of stuff in Malaysia and, for the players, they love it because it’s tax free!”
The 2022/23 Asian Tour season commences in early February with the US$5 million Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Saudi Arabia.
“We expect to run the 2022/23 season from the Saudi International all the way through to January, 2023. So it’ll be a slight wraparound season but that also allows us to do qualifying school a little bit later and not clash with Christmas and New Year. Hopefully, the proof is in the pudding. If we have a strong schedule, hopefully, the numbers at qualifying school and the interest amongst the the professional community will be very high.”
The COVID-19 pandemic saw the tour’s 2020 season suspended after just four events and forced it to be modified to a 2020/21/22 schedule, with upcoming back-to-back events in Phuket, Thailand, and two more planned for Singapore in January allowing for a modified Order of Merit (OOM) spanning three years. Cho noted that, while they are still finalising the field for the 2022 Saudi International, the top 30 on the OOM will get in.
“We’ve been working with the promoter Golf Saudi on the field. Obviously, the Asian Tour will reward the top 30 players from the combined Order of Merit … we’re combining the first four events in 2020 with the four events that we hope to stage in the next two months, and take the top 30 from that Order of Merit, which is eight events,” he shared.
“I know it’s highly modified and highly irregular but, you know, circumstances are such. The top 30 will get into the Saudi International, while the bulk of the field will be made up by players in the top 200 of the Official World Golf Ranking. There’ll be exemptions for top players from several tours like the Japan Tour, Korean Tour and Australasian Tour, as well as elite amateurs. So we’re hoping that the tournament is going to be very strong from an international perspective and that the world ranking points will be up there as well.”
The 10 annual LIV Golf Investments events, Cho added, will be full-field Asian Tour. “The 10 events are going to be massive for the Asian Tour with the prize monies being over a million dollars each. The fields are going to be full-field Asian Tour, meaning that we will get an allocation for our members of between 70 and 80 players per tournament. We’re also going to have top players from the top 200 in the world participate, as well as elite amateurs and those from the other regional tours as well,” he noted.
Cho conceded that it is a huge relief to finally get things up and running in the ‘new normal’, especially given the challenges faced with international travel as the Asian Tour typically traverses more countries in a year than any other tour.
“It’s been a long time coming for our professionals and everyone around the Asian Tour, broadcasters, fans and stakeholders. So everyone’s really looking forward to the restart; that’s probably an understatement!
“The biggest stumbling block for us was obviously the the crossing of international borders. We probably travel to more countries than any other tour … I mean, we often visit 16, 17, 18 different countries, and our staff, players, people involved in tournaments, come from 25-plus countries as well. So as you can imagine, it’s been very difficult to get quarantine exemptions. It’s been not for lack of trying. And we understand that each country in Asia is probably a little bit more conservative than the West,” explained Cho.
“It’s been very difficult and we’re fortunate that the Thai government has been very helpful in allowing us to stage the two events in Phuket. Hopefully, the Singapore government also allows us to do two tournaments in January and, with the gradual relaxation of travel restrictions from vaccinated travelers amongst the Southeast Asian countries, we’re looking forward to resuming, I wouldn’t say business as usual, but the new norm.”
As for repercussions stemming from LIV Golf Investment’s Saudi Arabian financial backing through the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, PIF (Public Investment Fund), Cho noted that they are comfortable with the investment and are grateful that PIF has chosen to invest in golf and the Asian Tour.
“We’re comfortable with the PIF involvement. I mean, you would have seen that they they’re involved in the Newcastle United Football Club takeover. They’re involved in a lot of investments on a business level, having stakes in Uber, Citibank, Facebook. They support F1 and with the Aramco sponsorship, they’re doing a lot of stuff in ladies golf. As you would have seen, the European Tour obviously worked with the Saudi International for the past three years.
Trevor Simsby
“So we’re very comfortable with investment and we’re putting it to the greater good. We’re very fortunate that they’re interested in golf, and we really do need this injection in this great game of ours. We’re very happy that they’ve chosen the Asian Tour, very happy that they’ve chosen golf as a platform to invest in,” Cho concluded.
The Asian Tour resumes next week with the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship followed immediately by the Laguna Phuket Championship, both offering prize money of US$1 million. Confirmed entries include current Order of Merit leader Wade Ormsby of Australia, 2020 Bandar Malaysia Open champion Trevor Simsby of the USA, Thai star Jazz Janewattananond and no less than four Malaysians – the Green siblings, 2017 Asian Tour No 1 Gavin and his younger brother Galven, Nicholas Fung and Ben Leong.
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