October is a significant month for me because it has been a year since I joined the Asian Tour. I’m pleased about the many positive developments across the Tour and our organization as a whole that we’ve accomplished together as a team since I came on board 12 months ago.
Recently we announced the return of the Indonesia Open on our schedule, which is very positive news for the Tour. The popular tournament will offer a prize purse of $300,000 and will be played at the Pondok Indah Golf Course from October 26 to 29.
Last year’s Indonesia Open was such a great tournament when we witnessed an exciting duel between two-time Asian Tour No. 1 Jeev Milkha Singh and eventual winner Gaganjeet Bhullar, who won his seventh title before turning 29!
With the addition of the Indonesia Open on our schedule, we will have a total of 26 events with a potential of one more new event that will be announced very soon. This year our members also shoot for a total prize pot of 33.5 million.
This is very solid growth for the Asian Tour in 2017, as we will stage three to four more tournaments compared to the 23 events we had in 2016. The total prize money has also grown by 1.5 million and we are aiming to increase the number of tournaments for 2018!
As you already know, the Asian Tour has strengthened our presence in Korea after reaching a five-year agreement with the Korea Golf Association (KGA) for our two golf bodies to cosanction the Kolon Korea Open and GS Caltex Maekyung Open tournaments from 2018 onward. With the Shinhan Donghae Open also scheduled, we will have a minimum of three events in the golf hotbed of Korea from next season.
2018 also sees the return of the EurAsia Cup from January 12 to 14 at the Glenmarie Golf & Country Club in Kuala Lumpur. This Ryder Cup-style event pits the top 12 players from Europe against the top 12 players from Asia competing for a massive $4.8 million.
Over the last few weeks, we welcomed some worthy champions, including Richard T. Lee of Canada at the Shinhan Donghae Open in Korea. It was his second victory and it came at a timely period as he just recovered from an injury.
The following week Daisuke Kataoka of Japan won the Asia-Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup Golf, his first win on the Asian Tour. It was a big relief to Kataoka, since he regained his Asian Tour card that he lost by finishing outside the top 60 in 2016.
After three runner-up results, Gavin Green of Malaysia secured an emphatic victory at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters. What a year it has been for the young Malaysian who is now firmly in the running to become the first player from his country to win the Order of Merit.
A big congratulations also to Pat Perez who won the CIMB Classic and our member Anirban Lahiri of India, who enjoyed another top-10 finish in the $7-million tournament.
Outside the ropes, we are continuing to promote the Asian Tour through other means. Recently I made a guest appearance on CNBC and I also took part on a panel discussion about golf at the Sports Matters conference. We will continue to position the Asian Tour at the forefront of the dynamic golf landscape in Apac at every opportunity.
After all, this is #whereitsAT
Thank you and best regards, Josh