The Asian Tour on Tuesday announced at least five new events to be featured in its 2010 schedule, after what it called a "challenging 2009 season" due to the global economic slowdown. The tour said there will be at least 28 tournaments for next year, including two new tournaments to be launched in India in February - the Avantha Championship and Nimbus Pro-Am Championship.
Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han said two new tournaments will also make their debuts in Malaysia, and it is finalising new events for Taiwan and Vietnam. "We are delighted to announce our 2010 schedule which will include a minimum of 28 tournaments with over 39 million dollars in prize money, which reaffirms our position as a major international golf tour," he said in a statement. The Asian tour is aiming at between 30 to 35 events with over 45 million dollars in prize money from 2012 onwards.
Apart from the new events, the Asian Tour said it will launch a secondary circuit, the Asian Development Tour, in 2010 along the lines of the Nation-wide Tour in the US and European Challenge Tour for emerging players who do not have full playing rights on the Asian Tour. The US PGA Tour and the Asian tour said Monday they had struck a deal on a new event, the Asia Pacific Golf Classic, be held in Malaysia from next year.