Asian Tour’s growing popularity a sign that golf’s status quo is changing, with foothold in Europe just the beginning
- International Series will have 10 events this year, including 1 at the sport’s spiritual home in Scotland
- With the DP World Tour ‘weaker than at any stage in its history’ the Asian Tour can challenge the game’s hierarchy
The International Series reached Vietnam last week, the fourth event in a season that is taking the Asian Tour to the Middle East, the UK and many places in between.
Adding a tournament in St Andrews weeks after confirming that the Hong Kong Open would be one of the elevated events, means there are now 10 stops on the schedule for 2023.
The expansion will not stop there, and officials have previously said they would like as many as 14 tournaments, while Cho Minn Thant, the Tour CEO, hailed the addition of the St Andrews Bay Championship as being “testament to the global vision” of the series.
A trip to the home of golf in August is more than a pilgrimage to where the game started, it signals intent to take the organisation deeper into the heartland of the DP World Tour, after decades of its rival doing the same thing in reverse.
“We are an ambitious initiative that aims to travel and go beyond our traditional borders to help grow the game and there can be no better place to play one of our events than where the game originated,” Rahul Singh, head of the International Series, said.
That ambition extends beyond the series, with the Asian Tour also establishing a foothold in the US through its Q-school.
