Asian Tour announces 2010 schedule

The Asian Tour announced their schedule for 2010 today with five new events added to the circuit and a total of almost $40m (€27m) on offer in prize money.

New tournaments are to be launched in India and Malaysia while events are also being finalised in Chinese Taipei and Vietnam.

Executive chairman Kyi Hla Han is confident the Asian Tour will flourish following a difficult 2009 due to the global financial crisis and believes the circuit could increase to 35 events by 2012.

“We are delighted to announce our 2010 schedule which will include a minimum of 28 tournaments with over 39million dollars in prize money, which reaffirms our position as a major international golf tour,” said Han.

“The success of our players, including the historic triumph by Yang Yong-eun in the PGA Championship this year and Thongchai Jaidee’s record third victory in our Order of Merit, has been a telling factor in attracting major sponsors onto the Asian Tour platform.”

The season-opening event on the circuit is the Asian Tour International which begins on February 4 in Bangkok.