Malaysia and Philippines join the fold

The Asian PGA Tour will include a record 11 national opens next year with the Malaysian and Philippine events joining in the circuit's fifth year.

Tony Morgan, managing director of the Asian PGA, said the addition of the tournaments would enable the tour to offer a comprehensive Asian circuit involving nearly all the region's national opens.

The number might even increase as Taiwan had expressed interest. The Indonesian Open, which was part of the tour last year but cancelled this year because of unrest in the country, could also return.

The Malaysian Open will be the Asian PGA's second jointly-sanctioned event with the European PGA Tour in addition to the annual Johnnie Walker Classic. The Philippine Open is the oldest professional championship in the region and has given a five-year commitment to the tour.

'We are 90 per cent certain Taiwan will be an event on the tour. The Asian golf calendar next year will be structured as one calendar of golf rather than various groups of people doing their own thing without awareness or inclination to accept that there are other events going on,' Mr Morgan said.

'Realistically, we will have a minimum of 20 events. If I was to stick my neck out, maybe we could have 24 or 25. There are a number of events that are dependent on sponsors staying with them and finalising where they are going.

'There is probably a hard-core group of 15 or 16 very strong Asian events which will definitely happen.' This year, the Omega Tour hosted or co-hosted 20 events with about US$5 million in prize money. Last year, there were 23 events with about US$6 million in prize money.