Golf Asia — January 2018

32 GOLF ASIA

GOLFING

SCENE

And looking forward to a period of exciting growth in the 2018 season

A Successful Finish To 2017!

BY JOSH BURACK, ASIAN TOUR CEO

I

’m writing to you now from Xiamen

where we just finished the Asian

Golf Championship. This was

our first event in China in nine years!

Overall, the tournament was a huge

success. The China Golf Association

(CGA), our promoter partner China

Golf Dragons, the government officials

and of course our members were all

delighted with the Asian Tour’s return

to China. We’ve now set the stage to

expand our presence in this vitally

important market for the years ahead.

This is a tremendous step forward for

the Asian Tour and our players.

2017 was particularly fulfilling for

the Asian Tour based on the positive

growth of our schedule, steps we

took to strengthen the organization

and important partnerships we added

including the R&A affiliate membership

and creation of the Panasonic Swing.

The ambition for next season is to

have a minimum of 33 tournaments on

the main Tour, which would surpass

the Asian Tour’s previous high of 32

events back in 2008. We will have at

least six new tournaments in 2018,

two events added in Korea, the New

Zealand Open, the Philippine Golf

Championship and a minimum of two

tournaments confirmed in China, with

a few more likely to materialize as

we’ve got two extra weeks blocked on

the CGA calendar.

For the Asian Development Tour,

we have planned a minimum of 22

tournaments in 2018. This will be at

least two more compared to 2017’s

total of 20 events. 10 to 12 events will

be played in Malaysia, four in Thailand,

two in Taiwan and two in Indonesia.

Bowen Xiao, Asian Golf

Championship 2017 winner