Asian Tour Commissioner Cho Minn Thant has barely had time to catch his breath over a whirlwind 12 or so months that has catapulted the Asian Tour to the forefront of the global golf scene.
The Tour was in dire straits following the COVID-pandemic — with the massively depleted 2020 season still taking more than two years to complete — but Cho has been the architect of its resurgence. Thanks in no small part a deal with Golf Saudi and LIV Golf which Cho helped engineer, the Asian Tour is now thriving with massively boosted prize funds across the majority of its tournaments, and the introduction of the flagship $5 million PIF Saudi International and the innovative International Series, which showcases the Tour’s talents on the global stage.
Where it was previously limited to a handful of events in the likes of Singapore, Thailand and New Zealand, the Asian Tour in 2023 takes in destinations around the world including England, Vietnam, India, South Korea, Morocco, Egypt and Bangladesh.
The deal brokered with Golf Saudi has also opened the door to events across the Middle East, including recent events in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, with the possibility of more in the near future.
With such an explosion of competitions across such a wide range, Cho has spent more time in airport terminals and on the various golf courses than he has at home, but it is a mission that he relishes.
“It is a very welcome challenge,” he said. “We are here to represent and help our players and help raise the profile of the Tour. When you see what has happened over the past year, with the increased purses, it helps our players professionally and personally, plus — as they are only playing a schedule of 14 events on their series this year — we will see a lot of LIV Golfers continue to appear on Asian Tour events. That raises the field, brings in some bigger names, draws more crowds and raises the profile of the Tour.”
Cho Minn Thant presents Wade Ormsby with the International Series Thailand trophy. Photo by Thananuwat Srirasant
The 2023 International Series is well underway, with Wade Ormsby claiming the third title of the 10-event series in Singapore, following Takumi Kanaya in Oman and Andy Ogletree in Qatar, but with six destinations still to be announced, there is potential for a return to the Middle East.
While refusing to rule it out, Cho was playing his cards close to his chest before any announcement for the second half of the 2023 Asian Tour schedule.
“We have looked at some potential host venues,” he told Golf Digest Middle East on the sidelines of the Saudi International in Jeddah. “For us, we want to make sure we have 25 really strong events on tour, and we’re not going to be over ambitious and say we want 45 $3 million events on the tour, it just doesn’t work in terms of corporate sponsorship and travel, so 25 is about the sweet spot. If we can get to 25 events, $2 million-plus of [prize money] that’s a great tour to play on, and whether or not there is that progression to LIV, that’s a bonus.”
The International Series offers a pathway to playing privileges at LIV Golf events. Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent was the big beneficiary last year, having won the won the International Series Order of Merit and received an exemption to play in the 2023 LIV Golf League. Vincent and several others also played a full LIV schedule in 2022 thanks to their success in last year’s International Series events.
Even if players don’t make it to the ‘big bucks’ at LIV Golf, Cho is confident the Asian Tour regulars are delighted with recent developments.
“We’re very much independent now, and to the bulk of our membership that’s absolutely fine,” he said. “They’re playing for more money, they’re playing in new destinations, we’re a strong tour and there is a future playing on the Asian Tour, you don’t necessarily have to progress your career by going overseas.
“For the players to be able to play a full season for decent money, where keeping your card in the top 60 earns you — I’m plucking a number out of my head — $200,000 a year, that’s a pretty good living for guys pushing a white ball around.”
As for the future destinations for competitions both in the International Series and on the regular Asian Tour calendar, Cho is open to putting on more tournaments in the Middle East — but prefers to take the game to new audiences rather than established and successful destinations such as the UAE.
“There is a lot of big and highly successful golf in the Middle East and the UAE right now,” Cho said. “There are big championships in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Even for us, we have Saudi, Oman and Qatar on the International Series, plus this massive event here in the PIF Saudi International.
Cho Minn Thant with Hassan Nasser Al Naimi, President of the Qatar Golf Association, at the inaugural International Series event in Doha. Photo by Ian Walton
“It’s about spreading it out in the region and we will look at places that don’t have golf at the moment, like we did in Egypt last year [with the International Series]. It is a bigger impact for us to go into those countries with a championship, where they haven’t had much golf, rather than do a smallish event in comparison to what they already have in somewhere like Dubai, where it could become saturated.”
Cho is also looking further afield in Asia in an attempt to get some more of the old Asian Tour regular destinations — China, Macau, Hong Kong — back as regular fixtures.
“China has just opened up again, and very recently they’ve reached out to the Asian Tour and said they’d like to work together with us again,” Cho continued.
“Obviously we’re going to concentrate on building the areas around Hong Kong as well. We haven’t been to Macau in a few years, we haven’t been to China for a few years because of Covid.
“If we can build that triangle of events, where we have Hong Kong, we get Macau back and we potentially get something in Southern China, that would be great for us.”
