Japan Golf offers ‘clear route’ to PGA Tour and DP World Tour under new alliance
- Alliance with European and American organisations means young Japanese golfers have formal pathway to take on the world’s best
- Move comes after LIV Golf’s US$300 million partnership with Asian Tour to expand its reach to Asia, including events in UK, Egypt and Morocco
The world’s two main golf tours in Europe and North America have signed an agreement with Japan’s professional circuit giving the top three players a direct route to taking on the game’s best.
With the Asian Tour’s profile on the rise, the alliance between the DP World Tour, the PGA Tour and the Japan Golf Tour Organisation comes at a time of change in the sport.
The Asia region’s top tour has been boosted by Saudi Arabia’s backing of LIV Golf, which will see some US$300 million pumped into it through a partnership announced earlier this year.
And the emergence of the new organisation, which has attracted some of the world’s best players to its ranks, has resulted in a significant split in the sport, highlighted by the war of words that has broken out between Greg Norman, the LIV Golf CEO, and the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, and Norman’s PGA counterpart Jay Monahan.
The new alliance between the European, American and Japanese organisations means the latter’s top three men on the JGTO order of merit each season can join the DP World Tour.
