Omega will be official sponsor of Asian PGA
Omega will be official sponsor of Asian PGA
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Swiss watch-manufacturing giant Omega
will become the official sponsor of the inaugural Asian PGA Tour
in a deal said to be worth several million dollars, the regional
golfing body said yesterday.
The sponsorship agreement, the biggest in Asian golf outside
Japan, means the Asian PGA's tour will now be known as the Omega
Tour.
A golf official close to the deal said the value of the
contract was at the "medium-end of a seven-figure deal".
The three-year sponsorship deal is an important vote of
confidence in the Asian PGA, created last year after widespread
discontent among Asian players at an existing tour run by the
amateur Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), which has
historically been dominated by non-Asian players.
The APGC intends to continue to run its own tour starting in
November which will clash with several dates on the closing leg
of the Omega Tour.
Since the Asian PGA launched its inaugural 20-stop tour in
Thailand in June, Asian players have won all but one of the six
events, and the top five players on the tour order of merit are
Asian.
Asia's best-known golfer, Fiji's Vijay Singh, won the
US$300,000 Passport Open in South Korea a fortnight ago.
Omega's tour sponsorship deal takes effect at the $500,000
Dubai Creek Open being played from October 5-8, the first of four
majors on the tour.
European Tour
In London, Executive Director Ken Schofield confirmed
Wednesday that the European golf tour will travel further afield
next year than ever before.
The 1996 Tour will start in Singapore then move on to Perth,
Australia, and to South Africa for two, or possibly three, weeks,
before coming to Europe.
Prize money and several venues have still to be announced, but
Schofield said: "It is shaping up to be our best schedule and I
am quite optimistic that when we do finalize the year there will
be an advancement in all major areas.
"The start of the schedule reflects our desire to provide
tournament competition for tour members on the finest available
courses in the most favorable conditions."