"Economic uncertainty hits Asian golf"
/As the playoff extravaganza winds down and the massive audiences take in one more week of PGA Tour golf before turning their attention to football and baseball, Asia will soon come into focus with a few big events on the various tours.
An unbylined APF story looks at the suddenly less prosperous times in Asian professional golf.
Asia's end-of-year golf round remains studded with lucrative, imported events, including the CIMB Classic, BMW Masters, WGC-HSBC Champions and the World Cup, offering combined prize money of more than $30 million.
But with about 20 international events scheduled across the Asia-Pacific region in the last few months of this year, it's no surprise that some are crowded out.
The Singapore Open, previously billed as 'Asia's major' and with a $6 million purse last year, is the glaring omission from this year's schedule. Its promoters are promising it will return next season, but the date, venue and sponsor are all unknown.
Meanwhile India's European Tour-sanctioned Avantha Masters has been shelved after its main sponsor withdrew due to the "current economic condition", including a plunging rupee.
And the Hong Kong Open, long a cornerstone of Asian golf, is without a sponsor and is relying on government funds to help pay its prize money.
