Taifong Golf Club’s contemporary clubhouse. Photo credit: Taifong Golf Club
An exciting new chapter in the history of the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open will be written this year when the event becomes part of the Asian Tour for the first time.
Since 2014 the tournament has been one of the most prominent and lucrative events on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) but this season its prizemoney will be doubled to US$400,000 paving the way for its elevation to the main Tour.
The tournament will be staged at Taifong Golf Club – its regular home, located in Chang Hwa County in central Chinese-Taipei – from November 30 to December 3 and it will be the 22nd and penultimate of the season.
“We welcome the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open to the Asian Tour,” said Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner & CEO, Asian Tour.
“We feel it is a natural progression in its evolution for this highly regarded and established event to step up onto the Asian Tour and play a key role in determining how our year is concluded.
“For seven successive seasons the tournament was part of the Asian Development Tour, and featured some famous winners, such as two-time champion Chan Shih-chang, and its profile will now be further elevated as an Asian Tour-sanctioned tournament.”
The arrival of the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open means the Asian Tour will visit Chinese-Taipei on three occasions this year.
Last year, the tournament made a welcome return to the schedule after a three-year hiatus due to the global pandemic and was the final event of the ADT’s season.
In what proved to be a thrilling climax to the season Chinese Taipei’s Hung Chien-yao sealed a commanding five-stroke victory, while Suteepat Prateeptienchai from Thailand finished in second place, cementing his position at the top of the ADT Order of Merit. The prizemoney was incremented by 25% to US$200,000, making it the joint richest event on the ADT.
Local hero and five-time Asian Tour winner Chan won the event in 2014 and 2018, while other past champions include Thais Donlaphatchai Niyomchon (2019), Pannakorn Uthaipas (2017) and Rattanon Wannasrichan (2015), and American Johannes Veerman (2016).
