Asia Rejects Super Tour

Filed in archive Golf News on March 14, 2008

Courtesy: Asian Tour

A clash of regional titans has occurred in the Asia-Pacific area of the golf globe.

Australia, China, Japan and South Korea have all endorsed a concept to create an Asian Super Tour to rival the European PGA and PGA of America tours.

It's a plan that can only benefit the respective tours, especially when the economic powerhouses of China and South Korea are added to Japan's financial clout; frankly, is there a single electronics conglomerate that isn't located in one of those three countries.



But the plan needed the approval and support of the huge Asian Tour to pull off the grand scheme.

And the Asian Tour has slammed the door firmly in their faces.

The CEO of the Asian Tour, Kyi Hla Han, said the OneAsia project, as it has been named, did not serve the best interests of the region.

He had some particularly harsh words for the PGA of Australia which he called a "diminishing" tour.

But the strongest reason for rejecting the OneAsia plan appears to be protection of power.

Here's what I mean; backers of the OneAsia tour see it as bringing together "the best tournaments conducted throughout Asia-Pacific to create an alternative elite career pathway for national organizations and their aspiring professional golfers in the region."

The OneAsia supporters envisioned a schedule of at least 20 tournaments, each with a minimum purse of 1.5 million dollars.

But the Asian Tour is already doing this. The Tour's tournament schedule boasts no less than 38 events. Granted, some are outside the Asia-Pacific region and include majors like the U.S. Open and British Open, to name two.

Total prize money this year is more than 40 million dollars.

The Asian Tour is the only officially recognized Asian tour thanks to its membership in the International Federation of PGA Tours, so it can claim the British and U.S. Opens as officially recognized Asian Tour events.

The Asian Tour also has a full infrastructure of partnerships and goodwill relationships with corporate sponsors. Why give that up or share it with others who haven't done the work to develop it?

Professional golf is a highly political animal. Especially when it comes to money and power.

I'm not surprised the Asian Tour has rejected the concept. By withholding its enormous muscle, the Tour has maintained control and development of professional golf in the Asia-Pacific region for the foreseeable future.