The next few months are the busiest part of the Asian Tour schedule with a tournament nearly every week from now until the end of the year.
Our dedicated staff and talented players are very excited about this busy stretch, which will culminate in mid-December at our season-ending tournament the Indonesian Masters.
Our commercial team has been very busy firming up our tournament schedule for the 2018 season, which is looking very strong. I’m delighted to announce that the Asian Tour will strengthen its presence in Korea, having reached a long-term agreement with the Korea Golf Association (KGA) for the two organizations to cosanction the Kolon Korea Open and GS Caltex Maekyung Open tournaments from next season.
These two prestigious events boast prize purses of over $1 million and $900,000, respectively. Our members will receive spots for 50 players in each tournament and additional players of the Asian Tour are likely to qualify through their eligibility status on the Official World Golf Rankings.
Together with the recently concluded Shinhan Donghae Open, there will now be at least three Asian Tour events held annually in Korea from 2018.
We recently opened the registration for our 2018 Qualifying School that will be held again in Thailand in January 2018. With the Asian Tour schedule strengthening, I’m confident of another big turnout of aspiring professionals hoping to earn their playing rights on the Asian Tour in 2018. Each year over 500 players enter with the top 35 from the Qualifying School Final Stage earning a Tour card for the season.
For those players who fail to make the grade, they still have an opportunity to ply their trade on the Asian Development Tour (ADT), which comprises approximately 20 tournaments per year and provides a secondary pathway onto the Asian Tour for the top 5 players who earn a tour card for the following season.
Back on tour in 2017, if the Omega European Masters was a benchmark for the remainder of the 2017 Asian Tour season, we can expect even more drama in the coming weeks. It was heartbreaking to watch Scott Hend lose in a playoff for the second straight year.
But we expect Hendy to bounce back immediately. The big-hitting Australian is also in the Order of Merit lead again and he will be aiming to become the first player to win back-to-back Order of Merit crowns!
A big congratulations goes out to Asian Tour member and our 2015 Order of Merit champion Anirban Lahiri. He has been selected by Nick Price as a Captain’s Selection to represent the International Team at the Presidents Cup. Well done, Anirban! This will be his second appearance in the team event and we would like to wish him the best of luck against the US Team, who will have the full support of their home crowd in this edition.
By the time you are reading this, we would have successfully staged the Shinhan Donghae Open in Korea, Asia-Pacific Open golf Diamond Cup in Japan and Mercuries Taiwan Masters. These are great events on the Asian Tour and I’m sure we will welcome worthy champions.
The month of October will be a busy month for us as we host four tournaments—the popular Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) in Chinese Taipei, CIMB Classic in Malaysia, Macao Open and WGC-HSBC Champions in China.
Our members are always determined to qualify for the $7-million CIMB Classic, where the leading 10 players on the Order of Merit and three Malaysians can play in the lucrative tournament. The leading four players on the Order of Merit also stand a chance to earn a spot in Asia’s only World Golf Championship event, which offers a prize purse of $9.5 million.
Thank you for your continuing support of our players and the Asian Tour!
All the best,
Josh
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