The under-pressure Asian Tour has lost another event with the SK Telecom Open in South Korea opting not to co-sanction the tournament this year.
The decision is blow to an organisation already fighting the emergence of the rival OneAsia Tour which has taken over four events it used to run.
These include the Volvo China Open, which is currently being held in Beijing, the Pine Valley Beijing Open, the Midea Classic and the Korea Open.
It also comes at time when the global economic meltdown is hurting the sport, with the Jaidee Invitational in Thailand cancelled earlier this month after the sponsor, Raimon Land, pulled out.
Insiders told AFP the SK Telecom Open would not be co-sanctioned “partly due to the confusion created by OneAsia”.
The tournament, on the Asian Tour since 2001, will still take place next month, but only as a Korean Tour event.
The Asian Tour said it was not ready to make an official statement, but knows it is left with an increasingly thin-looking schedule.
While it traditionally has a summer break, there is now a ten-week gap between the Maekyung Open from May 14 to 17 and the next tournament, the Pertamina Indonesia Invitational on July 23.
OneAsia, formed this year to create a new force in world golf, is partly run by the Korea Professional Golf Tour and Korea Golf Association.
The Asian Tour and the Japan Tour have opted not to be part of OneAsia, which they accuse of unethical behaviour.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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