Scott Strange: winner of Volvo China Open

This year OneAsia has seven events planned, with the first, the Volvo China Open, already having been run and won. From here they envisage it will be onwards and upwards, as OneAsia now looks to expand even further into one of the few regions in the world of golf which is experiencing financial growth.

However it hasn’t been all smooth sailing. Not surprisingly the early manoeuvres have seen them hit more than a few hurdles and butt heads with the Asian PGA Tour in what has been a public spat.

The Asian Tour was always going to be protective of what they’ve got going on up there, they always have been, and seem prepared to battle hard in an effort to defend their turf.

The interest of those involved with OneAsia realise the need to expand into new markets, with the sponsorship dollar stretched to the limit, at least at home in Australia. The logical way for them to progress is to forge partnerships with a couple of emerging golfing nations and to jump on board with a traditional powerhouse in Japan. The Asia Tour has every reason to feel threatened.

While I wish the Australian PGA and their OneAsia partners well, the opportunities a circuit such as the one they are hoping to develop will be a huge boost for talented young Aussies, the Asian Tour is certain to throw plenty of barriers up to stall OneAsia. 

But it won’t be just the Asian Tour which will make life difficult for OneAsia.

Back in the mid 1990’s when I was a regular visitor to the tournaments of the Asian region, I witnessed firsthand the Golf Associations, PGAs, sponsors -- not to mention local royalty and government officials -- all having input into the tournaments run by the Asian Tour. They mostly involved themselves in matters they should have left alone. 

Unfortunately, tournament administrators had no choice but to pander to these organising bodies. They had to play the cards they were dealt and to do their best in what were often less than ideal circumstances. OneAsia is probably learning how to play similar politics at this very moment.

Under the circumstances of the new Omega Asian Tour which kicked off in 1995, they had little choice but to appease all the parties involved and to accommodate what were vested interests, biases and sometimes unreasonable expectations to get an attractive schedule of events up and running.

Tournament rules were pretty much different everywhere you went, local players -- although probably rightly so -- were given certain advantages while ‘foreigners’ like myself had to put up with it or take our clubs and go home.

They gave a little, took a little back and played their way through some tough times, eventually making the Omega Tour into what it is today, an outstanding option for golf professionals looking for a place to play and earn a living. It helped me buy my house and sent me away with many wonderful memories.

Before all this, the Australasian Tour had a shot at Asia back in 1992. As a consequence of their push the Australian Tour became the Australasian Tour and we played a handful of events in Malaysia and Singapore. These tournaments were separate from those operating under the banner of the then American-run and dominated Asia Tour. 

A young upstart named Robert Allenby recorded his first pro victory in 1992 at a tournament called the Perak Masters, played in a place called Ipoh. I was there to see it, finished 20th that week and was more than pleased with my effort, despite the fact my cheque didn’t even come close to covering expenses.

Those tournaments died a slow death after a year or so in existence but by 1995 I was heading back up there to the Asian Tour School. The brainchild of an Irishman who made his money in media and sporting promotions in Asia, Seamus O’Brien spent plenty early on, took on the existing Asian circuit and eventually came out on top. 

O’Brien partnered up with a couple of influential locals to help him on his way and named his tour the Omega Tour, due to securing a rich sponsorship from the international watchmaking company. The tour was well organised and won the locals over by providing improved opportunities to the many Asian players who were being largely disadvantaged under the previous system. 

No doubt the Omega Tour was a big improvement but like those before them, O’Brien and his colleagues also battled with Asian-style parochialism. 

In the early years the Omega Tour bowed to local ‘interpretations’ of the rules both on the course and in terms of tournament administration, some which would have made those sipping cognac in the members room of the Royal and Ancient in Scotland, raise their stiff upper lips to a new level. 

I was told by a tournament official at one particular event in Korea, and I could call on fellow players as my witness, that we weren’t operating under R & A Rules but we were playing ‘Korean’ rules. Pretty hard to dispute a ‘Korean rule’, as I had never seen the Korean rule book, and even if I had, most certainly wouldn’t have been able to read it.

At another event in Korea, being played in a monsoonal downpour, my group was told to get on with it, despite the fact that the puddles in the fairway covered your shoes and the greens were pretty much unplayable. No coincidence a Korean was leading, in front of a very high profile US Tour import.

Taiwan was hardly any more sympathetic to ‘foreigners’. I can remember a young American player being disqualified from a tournament under dubious circumstances. Not giving in easily he rang both the R & A and the USGA for clarification, finding out he was right and they were wrong. He was quickly told they cared little for his phone call, they were in control and that the ruling would stand. No discussion would be entered into.

In Malaysia on occasion a local dignitary, a government official, sometimes even the King would book a tee time, right in the middle of a tournament, meaning the whole tournament schedule would be changed to suit whomever was looking for his weekly hit. And I hate being negative about Malaysia, loved playing there. The courses were good, the people friendly but some of what went on could drive you to distraction.

The Omega Tour worked with these biases and appeased the players by continuing to deliver quality events and increasing prizemoney levels. 

These days they play for around US$35 million on the Asian Tour, up from US$5.5 million when it began back in 1995. A more than reasonable increase, however it shouldn’t be discounted that the bulk of the additional $30 million is from joint-European events, tournaments which limit the number of places for Asian Tour members.

I say this with the utmost respect for the European PGA Tour, which has turned a seven or eight month weather window in its own part of the world into a 12-month of the year tour across four continents, but they are in Asia for the benefit of their membership, nobody else.
 
The European partnership will also help to keep the elite local Asian players happy and the expansion plans of OneAsia at bay, at least for the time being.

Which begs the question 'where to for OneAsia'? The Australian PGA, along with their partners in this venture, are serious about making it a reality, so much so that tour chief Ben Sellenger currently makes a home in Singapore, right in the middle of all the action.

In the other corner are the Asian Tour and its General Manager Kyi Hla Han. A former touring pro born in Myanmar, Han lived for a time in Hong Kong and actually lived in Australia. He has apparently polarised support over a number of issues, OneAsia being just one of them, winning both fans and enemies even amongst his own. Han is stubbornly resisting the OneAsia concept.

The 40-odd Australians currently competing in Asia are also dubious, with some feeling their opportunities will be lessened by the addition of more quality Australians and Kiwis especially, into their tournament fields.

OneAsia is up and running in 2009, with Western Australia’s Scott Strange taking out the Volvo China Open during April. And it will continue to do its best to expand in the years to come. Asia will attempt to hang on to what it’s got and at the same time Europe is in the mix, protecting its investment in the joint-venture events. It’s going to get complicated if it’s not already.

If they can get it right and figure out a balance, we could one day see a third world tour to challenge the big two. I do wish them well. 

But I can foresee a long and bitter battle for supremacy, one with no simple solution.  OneAsia is determined to make its mark, with the Asian PGA Tour and those involved in it standing their ground against the ambitious interloper.

Great place to play golf, fantastic region to visit. Building ‘one’ Asia though – it’s very much a work in progress. 

Photo:  (Paul Lakatos event photographer)

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