Asian Tour announces 2010 schedule

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The Asian Tour announced its 2010 schedule Tuesday with a minimum of 28 tournaments, which will include no fewer than five new events, officials said.

Kyi Hla Han, Executive Chairman of the Asian Tour, said the continued backing from major sponsors and golf bodies from across the Asia Pacific region will see next season's schedule flourish after a challenging 2009 season caused by the global financial crisis.

Two new tournaments, the Avantha Championship and Nimbus Pro-Am Championship, will be launched in India, while two other tournaments will make their debuts in Malaysia.

The Tour is also finalising new events in Chinese Taipei and Vietnam, while Han said a secondary circuit, the Asian Development Tour, will be launched in 2010 along the lines of the Nationwide Tour in the United States and European Challenge Tour for emerging players who do not have full playing rights on the Asian Tour.

The total prize fund on offer on the Asian Tour in 2010 will be in excess of $39 million, reinforcing it as the third largest international Tour behind the PGA TOUR and European Tour.

The Asian Tour will travel to as far as Switzerland in Europe and to the Far East in Japan, where players from 29 different nationalities will compete for lucrative purses.

Han said the Asian Tour was forecasting between 30 to 35 events with over $45 million in prize money from 2012 onwards, thanks largely to the confidence within the marketplace and a number of factors, which include the stellar performances of the region's stars, the establishment of EurAsia Golf Ltd. through a formal alliance with the European Tour and a partnership with IMG, the world's largest sports marketing company, as the Tour's global media agent.

Additionally, Han added that bringing in-house television production and distribution functions has broadened sponsors' benefits and enhanced the Tour's television platform for wider distribution in new markets and existing key markets. Amongst others, the Asian Tour has struck broadcasting deals with Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, Viasat in Scandinavia and Fox Sports in Australia.

"We are delighted to announce our 2010 Schedule which will include a minimum of 28 tournaments with over $39 million in prize money, which reaffirms our position as a major international golf Tour," said Han.

"Through the solid foundation which the Asian Tour has been built upon and through strong and strategic alliances with our sponsors and partners across 17 different countries in Asia and the international Tours, we are looking forward to exciting times for professional golf in Asia in 2010 and beyond.

"As a players' organization, the Asian Tour represents the elite professional golfers from across the Asia Pacific region -- from the likes of Thongchai Jaidee to Jeev Milkha Singh, Yang Yong-eun to Liang Wen-chong and Lam Chih Bing to Scott Hend -- and they will continue to enjoy numerous opportunities to compete in elite tournaments with substantial prize money.

"The success of our players, including the historic triumph by Yang Yong-eun in the PGA Championship this year and Thongchai Jaidee's record third victory in our Order of Merit, has been a telling factor in attracting major sponsors onto the Asian Tour platform."

Han said details of six tournaments will be announced by organizers and sponsors in due course. Dates for the Hero Honda Indian Open, the inaugural Asia Pacific Golf Classic, Malaysia and Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open will also be confirmed at a later time.

"We are an international tour which represents no fewer than 29 different nationalities. The Asian Tour continues to hold a unique appeal through our diversity in our membership and the places that we visit and this can be seen by the growth of our tour and the establishment of new tournaments in 2010," he said.

The honor of being the season-opening event will fall upon the Asian Tour International, which will celebrate its third edition, in Suwan Country Club in Bangkok February 4-7, 2010.

India, one of the emerging forces of golf on the global stage, will welcome back-to-back new events, the Avantha Championship and the Nimbus Pro-am Championship in February.

The Maybank Malaysian Open will be played in early March while other major events include the Ballantine's Championship in Jeju island, Korea in April, won this year by Thai star Thongchai Jaidee.

The Asian Tour's busy stretch of events will kick off from July till December. The tour's biggest events -- the Barclays Singapore Open, the Hong Kong Open, Iskandar Johor Open and World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China -- will be held during the latter part of the season from October.