Big blow for OneAsia as Korean golfers boycott events

SINGAPORE - A decision by the South Korean golfers to stay away from the newly set up OneAsia has bolstered the position of the Asian Tour in the region.

The arrival of OneAsia had sent a lot of conflicting signals in golf circles over the control of the sport in Asia.

OneAsia Tour, which had announced a season with around 11 events in the region suffered a body blow with South Korean golfers this week voting to boycott all of its events.

The members of the Korea Professional Golfers’ Association (KPGA) had initially indicated they might boycott events in Korea because of a dispute over the number of spots for local golfers.

But when the meeting took place, the KPGA took a harsher stance and decided to stay away from all events run by OneAsia, some of which are to be held in China and Australia.

According to Korean media, the KPGA announced that the players will boycott every OneAsia event in the Asian region, not just in Korea.

The events in Korea include Maekyung Open and the SK Telecom Open, which were once part of Asian Tour and then seemed to have gone with OneAsia. But latest developments indicate that they will once again go back to being part of the Asian Tour.

Many players are also said to have expressed discontent over OneAsia not being able to creating new events and instead have merely brought in existing events from Asian Tour into their fold. The decision on Korean events’ joining Asian Tour will soon be taken.