Asian Tour CEO Cho Minn Thant says circuit no longer playing second fiddle to European rival, thinks golfers should play where they want
- Tour boss Cho Minn Thant believes roles have been reversed and his organisation is no longer the minor tour
- With the DP World Tour threatening to sanction members who played on the International Series, Cho said there was room for both to thrive
The Asian Tour is now a higher priority for golfers around the world and the days when it played second fiddle to the European Tour are over, according to its CEO.
Cho Minn Thant said in many ways the roles had been reversed, with players using the DP World Tour to fill gaps in their schedule rather than planning their year around those events.
Calling the support from the likes of Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Jazz Janewattananond, who has played in multiple Asian Tour events this year and finished in a tie for ninth at the DPWT’s event in Japan on Sunday, an “enormous endorsement”, Cho said the approach from players had “quite clearly changed”.
“In the past the Asian Tour was the minor tour, and there were always players looking to play the European Tour and Japan Tour,” he said.
“We’ve always had players who have tried to keep membership on other tours, and we’ve always been a second or third priority for them, so it’s very clearly changed, where a player like Jazz is prioritising the Asian Tour. Scott Hend, Wade Ormsby, in the past they would commit to Europe first and then we would fill the gaps, it’s almost the other way around now.”
The decision by some to play on the Asian Tour, and particularly in its first International Series event in England last year, has riled DPWT boss Keith Pelley to such an extent he has threatened to sanction those that did so.
