“It has undeniably taken us to the next level” - Asian Tour CEO commends partnership with LIV Golf
The partnership between LIV Golf and the Asian Tour has helped bridge the gap in professional golf and has helped elevate the Tour to a higher level, according to those involved.
It has also helped push the sport to a much more global audience. Once mainly America-focused, the sport has reached new areas recently.
Cho Minn Thant, CEO and Commissioner of the Asian Tour said (via Flushing It):
“There is no doubt that our partnership with LIV Golf has made us stronger. Thank you for that partnership, it has undeniably taken us to the next level.”
LIV Golf's partnership with them has helped the Asian Tour become more relevant and better known, but it's been a mutually beneficial relationship. It has provided several LIV players the opportunity to play sanctioned events and earn OWGR points.
This was something Joaquin Niemann made great use of. He won on the Asian Tour, which helped get him a special invitation to the Masters and the PGA Championship.
His decision to try and get those points by venturing into the Asian Tour was a big deciding factor. Without the partnership, Niemann might not have been able to. It's not as if, for example, he could play on minor PGA Tour events to achieve the same goal because there is no partnership there.
Another thing the LIV Golf-Asian Tour partnership is doing is helping push golf globally. It's no secret that LIV went to play in locations like Adelaide in Australia, that the PGA Tour just hadn't gone to.
There is the DP World Tour, but the Asian Tour's emergence has offered another global option for players.
Asian Tour has come back from the brink, CEO says
The Asian Tour was nearly gone after the pandemic. It would certainly not be the prominent golf tour it is today if it hadn't survived that. Cho Minn Tant said (via Today's Golfer) that it was a nearly devastating time:
“It was tragic for our players. A lot of them had to get teaching roles or find other ways to survive. We were by far the hardest hit out of all the tours worldwide, just because of the territories that we visit and the amount of border crossings that requires.”
Now, they're in better shape than they have been. He went on to add that they have expanded their player base significantly:
“I guess the misconception that the name Asian Tour has is that it identifies our tournaments as only being in Asia and only for Asian players. We’re far from that right now.”
LIV Golf's partnership and some players' willingness to play on the tour proves that it's far from an Asia-only Tour. One can only imagine what the future might hold if this trajectory continues.