Another TOUR event bites the dust
As of yesterday, professional golf in Asia had a disappointing setback when it has revealed that the PGA Tour Series-China for this season was officially canceled due to the fact that coronavirus has resulted in the cancellation of PGA TOUR’s China series.
Asian TOUR was planning to restart in September, and would have been on the same timeline with the main tours in Japan and South Korea before the news was revealed.
Meanwhile, the US-based PGA TOUR is on full action even though the events are free from spectators. We also have the European Tour, which resumed play last week with the British Masters.
Although disappointing for golf fans TOUR stresses safety first
Quincy Quek, Singapore’s No.1 golfer, sole representative of the country’s PGA TOUR Series-China, stated that the news of the TOUR’S China series cancellation triggered disappointment.
However, he added that he “appreciated they have committed to a decision early rather than leave us hanging.” Quek won his maiden title last year, and due to this announcement, his playing status and membership will extend forward automatically to 2021.
This year’s debut planned feature of a 14-tournament competition, which planned to kick off in March but resulted in postponement because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The tournament price money ranged from 1.5 to 2 million yuan (which is $300,000 – $400,000). The top five of this tournament qualified from the Korn Ferry Tour, the direct ticket into the PGA Tour where stars like Tiger Woods and Rory Mcllroy compete.
Quincy Quek was last year’s star
33-year-old Quek finished 12th place in 2019 PGA TOUR Series-China, where he earned 437,320 yuan. In the Asian Development Tour during the second-tier, he collected another $17,580.
However, he missed out of the Singapore Open at the start of the year outing this campaign.
In the sport he ranked No. 538, private coaching earned most of his earnings this year because no events resumed. Quek gave golf lessons at the Country Club and also the National Service Resort.
He had been cautiously skeptical before the Asian TOUR’s restart plans, when the Sept 17-20 Taiwan Masters garnered cancellation among other events.
This tournament’s worth was $950,000 and was going to be the second among the three tournaments with announcement back in June to revive the season back after a six-month halt.
Future plans are on halt for TOUR’s China series
The TOUR had earlier staged four of its event before the campaign was on hold in March. However, it hopes to return at the $1.18 million Shinhan Donghae Open holding in South Korea from September 10-13, after that the $1.4 million Panasonic Open begins in Japan from September 24-27.
The PGA TOUR Series-China executive director, Greg Carlson, hope the situation changes “alleviates itself so we can again resume tournament golf in this part of the world in 2021”.
Carlson added: ”Just like the Mackenzie PGA Tour Canada. [There is] so much growing uncertainty in China with getting into the country and all the things associated with traveling there. “We looked at many different options and scheduling models that allows us even to play an abbreviated schedule, and it turns out to not be feasible.”