OneAsia

OneAsia is a men's professional golf tour based in the Asia-Pacific region. The tour was founded in 2009 as a joint venture between the PGA Tour of Australasia, the China Golf Association, the Korean Golf Association and the Korean PGA. The Japan Golf Tour has been invited to participate in the project, but has not committed to do so, and the tour has not yet held a tournament in Japan. OneAsia is a rival to the longer established Asian Tour, with which it has very bad relations. In its first year, tournaments on the tour were allocated world ranking points as if they were PGA Tour of Australasia tournaments. Since 2010, the tour has had world ranking status in its own right.

Formation

In January 2009, it was announced that there would be a new series of events across the Asia-Pacific region, to be organised by the PGA of Australia in co-operation with China Golf Association, the Japan Golf Tour, the Korean Golf Association and the Korean PGA. The aim of these events would be to raise the profile of professional golf in the region, and compete with the likes of the European Tour. The series would initially comprise of six events, three in China, two in Australia and one in South Korea, with plans to expand in later years.^[1][2][3]

The introduction of the OneAsia series has not been universally welcomed, with strong opposition coming from the Asian Tour in particular, with support from its members.^[4] All of the six events announced for 2009 were existing tournaments, including some already sanctioned by the Asian Tour. One of them, the Pine Valley Beijing Open, was called off a few weeks before it was due to be held. The organisers officially attributed this decision to the state of the course and a clash of dates with The Players Championship on the PGA Tour, but some media commentators dismissed these reasons since the tournament had clashed with the Players Championship the previous year as well, and attributed the cancellation to sponsor discontent with the sanctioning changes.^[5]

Following a meeting of the Official World Golf Rankings Committee at the Open Championship in July all OneAsia events have been awarded Official World Golf Ranking points.

Schedule

2009 season

The table below shows the schedule for the inaugural 2009 season.^[6] The season originally comprised six tournaments, three in China, two in Australia and one in South Korea, but the Pine Valley Beijing Open was cancelled to leave just five.^[5]

Dates	Tournament	Location	Prize fund	Winner	OWGR points	Notes
16–19 Apr	Volvo China Open	Beijing, China	USD2,200,000	Scott Strange	18	Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
7–10 May	Pine Valley Beijing Open	Beijing, China	USD1,200,000	Tournament cancelled[5]
10–13 Sept	Kolon-Hana Bank Korea Open	South Korea	USD1,000,000	Bae Sang-moon	14
15–18 Oct	Midea China Classic	Guangzhou, China	USD500,000	Liang Wen-Chong	6
3–6 Dec	Australian Open	Sydney, Australia	USD1,200,000	Adam Scott	32	Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia
10–13 Dec	Australian PGA Championship	Sunshine Coast, Australia	USD1,200,000	Robert Allenby	26	Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia

2010 season

The table below shows the schedule for the 2010 season.^[7] The initial announcement confirmed eleven tournaments, six more than the tour's inaugural season.^[8]

Dates	Tournament	Location	Prize fund	Winner	OWGR points	Notes
1–4 Apr	Luxehills Chengdu Open	Chengdu, China	US$1,000,000	Liang Wen-Chong	10
15–18 Apr	Volvo China Open	Beijing, China	US$2,500,000	Yang Yong-eun	28	Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
6–9 May	GS Caltex Maekyung Open	Seongnam, South Korea	KRW 800,000,000	Kim Dae-hyun	6
20–23 May	SK Telecom Open	South Korea	KRW 900,000,000	Bae Sang-moon	12
1–4 July	Indonesian Open	Indonesia	US$ 1,000,000	Michael Hendry	8
26–29 Aug	Thailand Open	Thailand	US$1,000,000	Liang Wen-Chong	10
7–10 Oct	Kolon Korea Open	South Korea	KRW 1,000,000,000	Yang Yong-eun	12
14–17 Oct	Midea China Classic	Guangzhou, China	US$1,000,000	Kim Felton	8
21–24 Oct	Shandong Gold Cup Championship	Shandong, China	USD1,000,000	N/A	N/A	Tournament cancelled.[9]
2–5 Dec	Australian Open	Sydney, Australia	USD1,300,000	Geoff Ogilvy	32	Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia
9–12 Dec	Australian PGA Championship	Sunshine Coast, Australia	USD1,300,000	Peter Senior	22	Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia

2011 season

The table below shows the schedule for the 2011 season.^[10]

Dates	Tournament	Location	Prize fund	Winner	OWGR points	Notes
24–27 Mar	Indonesian PGA Championship	Tangerang, Indonesia	US$1,000,000	Andre Stolz	10
21–24 Apr	Volvo China Open	Chengdu, China	RMB20,000,000	Nicolas Colsaerts	28	Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
5–8 May	GS Caltex Maekyung Open	Seongnam, South Korea	KRW 1,000,000,000	Kim Kyung-tae	10	Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
19–22 May	SK Telecom Open	Seogwipo, South Korea	KRW 900,000,000	Kurt Barnes	14	Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
2–5 Jun	Nanshan China Masters	Longkou, China	US$1,000,000	Kim Bi-o	6
7–10 Jul	The Charity High 1 Resort Open	Jeongseon, South Korea	KRW 1,000,000,000	Cancelled[11]		Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
14–17 Jul	Indonesian Open	Jakarta, Indonesia	US$1,000,000	Thaworn Wiratchant	6
11–14 Aug	Thailand Open	Bangkok, Thailand	US$1,000,000	Andre Stolz	8
6–9 Oct	Kolon Korea Open	Cheonan, South Korea	KRW 1,000,000,000	Rickie Fowler	26	Co-sanctioned by the Korean Tour
10–13 Nov	Emirates Australian Open	Sydney, Australia	A$1,500,000	Greg Chalmers	42	Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia
24–27 Nov	Australian PGA Championship	Sunshine Coast, Australia	A$1,500,000			Co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia

Order of Merit winners

Year	Winner	Country	Winnings (US$)
2010	Liang Wen-Chong	China	560,736.57
2009	Scott Strange	Australia	505,783.76

The current Order of Merit list is [1] here.

References

1. ^ "Australia backs big-money OneAsia Super Series". Shanghai Daily. 18 March 2009. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=394569. Retrieved 2009-03-19. 
2. ^ "OneAsia series to vie with US, European tours, says commissioner". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 March 2009. http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/golf/oneasia-series-to-vie-with-us-european-tours-says-commissioner/2009/03/14/1236919629971.html. Retrieved 2009-03-19. 
3. ^ Hayes, Mark (13 March 2009). "Golfers to cash in". Herald Sun. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25178641-2865,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-19. 
4. ^ "Asian golfers reject 'super series'". Bangkok Post. 13 March 2009. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/137385/asian-golfers-reject-uper-series. Retrieved 2009-03-19. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} "OneAsia Tour's Pine Valley Beijing Open called off". Eurosport. 7April 2009. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/07042009/3/oneasia-tour-s-pine-valley-beijing-open-called.html. Retrieved 2009-04-13. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ "2009 OneAsia Schedule". OneAsia Tour. http://www.oneasia.asia/tournament-schedule/2009-tournament-schedule.html. Retrieved 2010-01-12. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "2010 OneAsia Schedule". OneAsia Tour. http://www.oneasia.asia/tournament/2010-season.html. Retrieved 2010-09-09. 
8. ^ "OneAsia 2010 Schedule Announced". OneAsia Tour. 6 November 2009. http://www.oneasia.asia/news/43-oneasia-2010-schedule.html. Retrieved 2009-12-13. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ "OneAsia Tour axes China golf event". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 2 September 2010. http://www.france24.com/en/20100902-oneasia-tour-axes-china-golf-event. Retrieved 2010-09-09. 
10. ^ "2011 OneAsia Schedule". OneAsia Tour. http://www.oneasia.asia/schedule/2011-schedule.html. Retrieved 2011-02-03. 
11. ^ "Weather forces cancellation of 2011 The Charity High1 Resort Open presented by SBS". OneAsia. http://www.oneasia.asia/news/tournament-news/402-weather-forces-cancellation-of-2011-the-charity-high1-resort-open-presented-by-sbs.html. Retrieved 2011-07-11. 

External links

• Official site