The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan (which has its own Japan Golf Tour). It is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Official World Golf Ranking points.

The Asian Tour is administered from Singapore. It is controlled by a board with a majority of professional golfers, and a Tournament Players Committee of its player members, supported by an executive team. The chairman of the board is the Indonesian businessman Jimmy Masrin.

History The Asian PGA was formed in July 1994 at a meeting in Hong Kong attended by PGA representatives from eight countries. The first season of the APGA Omega Tour, as it was known for sponsorship reasons, was played in 1995 and within a few years it had supplanted the existing tour in the region, the Asia Golf Circuit that was run by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, as the leading golf tour in Asia outside of Japan. In 1998 the Asian Tour became the sixth member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Under a new sponsorship deal, between 1999 and 2003 the tour was known as the Davidoff Tour, before adopting its current name in 2004.

In 2002, the tour moved its office from Hong Kong to Malaysia and in 2004 the tour was taken over by a new organisation established by the players, who had been in dispute with the previous management. In 2007 it moved to new headquarters on the resort island of Sentosa in Singapore, which is also the home to what was at that time the tour's richest sole sanctioned tournament, the Singapore Open.

In 2009 a rival tour, the OneAsia Tour, was established. Relations between the two tours are hostile.

In 2010, the Asian Tour launched the Asian Development Tour (ADT) as a developmental circuit. Five events were played the first year. By 2015 the tour had expanded to holding 28 tournaments with US$2.2 million of prize money.

With LIV Golf's initial investment in the Asian Tour having been reported in late 2021. The 2022 season marked the introduction of the International Series, which was unveiled in February. The series was to consist of 10 events to be added to Asian Tour schedules over the following 10 years, with each event featuring prize funds between and $2,000,000. The investment being primarily backed by LIV Golf.

In July 2026, the Asian Tour entered a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour and the European Tour, effective through at least 2029. The partnership provided for at least two co-sanctioned Asian Tour events in each of the following three years and aimed to create additional pathways for Asian Tour players to compete on European circuits.

Players Most of the leading players on the tour are Asian, but players from other parts of the world also participate (as of 2007 the country with most representatives profiled on the tour's official site is Australia).

In 2006, the Asian Tour became the most prestigious men's tour on which a woman has made the half-way cut in recent times when Michelle Wie did so at the SK Telecom Open in South Korea.

Among the ways to obtain an Asian Tour card is to be among the top 35 (including ties) at the Tour's qualifying school, finishing in the top 5 of the Asian Development Tour Order of Merit, and placing in the top 60 of the previous season's Order of Merit. The winner of the Asian Tour Order of Merit also receives entry into The Open Championship.

Tournaments and prize money

Each year the Asian Tour co-sanctions a number of events with the European Tour, with these events offering higher prize funds than most of the other tournaments on the tour as a result. While most of these tournaments have been in Asia, the Omega European Masters in Switzerland has been co-sanctioned from 2009 to 2017. In addition, the two tours sometimes tri-sanction events with the Sunshine Tour or PGA Tour of Australasia in those tours' respective regions. The Asian Tour also co-sanctions tournaments with the Japan Golf Tour.

Since 2008, 50 percent of players' earnings from the US Open and The Open Championship have counted towards the Asian Tour's Order of Merit. The two Opens were singled out from the other majors because they have open qualifying which Asian Tour members may enter.

Formerly Asia's richest event, the HSBC Champions, was first played in November 2005 with a prize fund of $5 million. The tournament was co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the earnings were counted towards the money list for its first three years before it became a World Golf Championships event in 2009.

Another limited-field event in Malaysia; the CIMB Classic, was launched in 2010 with a $6 million purse. The first Asian Tour event to be co-sanctioned by the U.S.-based PGA Tour began as an unofficial event on that tour, but it started to offer official money and FedEx Cup points in 2013.

In 2016, the tour's richest sole-sanctioned event was the Venetian Macao Open, with a prize fund of $1.1 million.

In 2022, the Saudi International became the tour's flagship event and as a result became its richest sole-sanctioned event.

Order of Merit winners SeasonWinnerPoints2025 Kazuki Higa 2,0822024 John Catlin 3,1302023 Andy Ogletree 2,129SeasonWinnerPrize money (US$)2022 Sihwan Kim 627,4582020–21–22 Tom Kim 507,5532019 Jazz Janewattananond 1,058,5242018 Shubhankar Sharma 755,9942017 Gavin Green 585,8132016 Scott Hend 1,004,7922015 Anirban Lahiri 1,139,0842014 David Lipsky 713,9012013 Kiradech Aphibarnrat 1,127,8552012 Thaworn Wiratchant (2) 738,0472011 Juvic Pagunsan 788,2992010 Noh Seung-yul 822,3612009 Thongchai Jaidee (3) 981,9322008 Jeev Milkha Singh (2) 1,452,7022007 Liang Wenchong 532,5902006 Jeev Milkha Singh 591,8842005 Thaworn Wiratchant 510,1222004 Thongchai Jaidee (2) 381,9302003 Arjun Atwal 284,018 2002 Jyoti Randhawa 266,263 2001 Thongchai Jaidee 353,0602000 Simon Dyson 282,3701999 Kyi Hla Han 204,2101998 Kang Wook-soon (2) 150,7721997 Mike Cunning 170,619 1996 Kang Wook-soon 183,7871995 Lin Keng-chi 177,856

Multiple winners RankPlayerWinsYears won1 Thongchai Jaidee 3 2001, 2004, 2009T2 Kang Wook-soon 2 1996, 1998 Jeev Milkha Singh 2006, 2008 Thaworn Wiratchant 2005, 2012

Awards SeasonPlayer of the YearRookie of the Year2025 Kazuki Higa Ollie Schniederjans2024 John Catlin (2) Stefano Mazzoli2023 Andy Ogletree Kho TaichiSeasonPlayers' Player of the YearRookie of the Year2022 Sihwan Kim Kim Bi-o2020–21–22 No awards2019 Jazz Janewattananond Sadom Kaewkanjana2018 John Catlin Park Sang-hyun2017 Gavin Green Micah Lauren Shin2016 Scott Hend Scott Vincent2015 Anirban Lahiri (2) Natipong Srithong2014 Anirban Lahiri Cameron Smith2013 Kiradech Aphibarnrat Richard T. Lee2012 Thaworn Wiratchant (2) Masanori Kobayashi2011 Juvic Pagunsan Tjaart van der Walt2010 Noh Seung-yul Rikard Karlberg2009 Thongchai Jaidee (3) Chinnaswamy Muniyappa2008 Jeev Milkha Singh (2) Noh Seung-yul2007 Liang Wenchong Scott Hend2006 Jeev Milkha Singh Juvic Pagunsan2005 Thaworn Wiratchant Shiv Kapur2004 Thongchai Jaidee (2) Adam Groom2003 Arjun Atwal Marcus Both2002 Jyoti Randhawa Kevin Na2001 Thongchai Jaidee Ted Oh2000 Simon Dyson Simon Dyson1999 Kyi Hla Han Kenny Druce1998 Chris Williams Ed Fryatt1997 Prayad Marksaeng Ted Purdy1996 Kang Wook-soon Jeff Wagner1995 Lin Keng-chi Arjun Atwal

Leading career money winners The table below shows the leading money winners on the Asian Tour as of 16 October 2016. The official site has a top 100 list which also shows each player's winnings for 1995 to 2016.

Rank Player Prize money (US$)1 Thongchai Jaidee 5,485,5372 Thaworn Wiratchant 4,493,8443 Scott Hend 3,795,6964 Prayad Marksaeng 3,533,5515 Jeev Milkha Singh 3,487,0296 Jyoti Randhawa 3,455,8597 Liang Wenchong 3,426,6328 Anirban Lahiri 3,034,4349 Prom Meesawat 2,776,89110 Chapchai Nirat 2,664,047

See also Asian Development Tour Ladies Asian Golf Tour List of golfers with most Asian Tour wins

Notes

References

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