The Asian Development Tour (ADT) has whetted the appetite for its 2023 season by announcing that three tournaments will be jointly sanctioned with the All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT) – a long-standing partner of the ADT.
Ahead of a full schedule announcement, expected soon, the ADT confirmed that the Singha Laguna Phuket Open, the Singha Pattaya Open and the inaugural ADT – All Thailand Partnership Trophy will feature on both schedules this year, helping to ensure another strong season rich with events for the thriving circuits.
The Phuket event has been jointly sanctioned with the ADT since 2017 and will be played at Laguna Golf Phuket from May 25-28; while this will be the first edition of the Partnership Trophy and will be staged at Phoenix Gold Golf & Country Club, Chonburi, from July 6-9.
The Singha Pattaya Open is one of the most established events on the ATGT – won a record four times by Thailand’s Prom Meesawat – but this will mark the first occasion it will be part of the ADT. It will be played from July 13-16, the week after the Partnership Trophy.
Both the Phuket and Pattaya tournaments will boast prizemoney of THB4 million (approximately US$117,000), while the tournament at Phoenix Gold will offer a purse of THB3 million (approximately US$88,000).
Cho Minn Thant, Commissioner & CEO, Asian Tour, said, “This a great way to start build up for the 2023 season on the Asian Development Tour. The schedule is taking shape and looks robust, particularly now we are able to re-affirm our mutually beneficial relationship with our friends at the All Thailand Golf Tour.
“The ATGT is arguably the region’s foremost domestic circuit and has launched the careers of some of the greatest players Asia has seen, so being able to co sanction events with them is a boon for all parties involved.”
All three events will feature 144 players, with a minimum of 56 spots plus four invites for members of the ADT.
Last year the ADT was able to stage a total of 17 events boasting overall prizemoney of US$1.762 million.
A little over two years after play stopped on the ADT because of the global pandemic it was finally able to restart at the Gurugram Challenge in India, in March of 2022.
After India, which was won by American Dodge Kemmer, the Tour staged four consecutive events on Phuket Island in Thailand, called the ‘Beautiful Swing Thailand’ and jointly sanctioned with the MENA Tour, held six in Indonesia, visited Saudi Arabia for the first time for two ground-breaking tournaments, while Chinese-Taipei, Vietnam and Malaysia all staged one event each.
Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai dominated the season with three masterful victories – the Blue Canyon Open, and the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament and Combiphar Players Championship, both in Indonesia – to earn a battlefield promotion onto the Asian Tour for the remainder of the season. The last player to achieve that feat was Korean star Joohyung Kim in 2019.
The top-10 players from the final ADT Order of Merit were rewarded with playing privileges for the Asian Tour in 2023 – previously seven players earned their cards.
In addition to Suteepat, the others to make it through were: Thailand’s Chonlatit Chuenboonngam (2nd), Indonesia’s Naraajie E. Ramadhanputra (3rd), Malaysia’s Shahriffuddin Ariffin (4th), China’s Chen Guxin (5th), Thailand’s Chanat Sakulpolphaisan (6th), Lloyd Jefferson Go (7th) of the Philippines, American Dodge Kemmer (8th), Australian Harrison Gilbert (9th) and Thailand’s Denwit Boriboonsub (10th).
