OneAsia grows legs in 2010

BY Bruce Young | China Tour | 2010 Luxehills Chengdu Open | Preview | 30 Mar 2010

The much anticipated and much vaunted 2010 OneAsia Tour gets underway this Thursday with the playing of the Luxehills Chengdu Open at the Luxehills International Country Club near Chengdu in Sichuan Province in Central West China.

The Mark Hollinger (JMP Design) designed layout has played host to China Omega Tour events in recent years but it steps up a notch or two this year as quality players from China, Korea, Taipei, Japan and Australasia fill the field.

The tournament will be the first of eleven events on the OneAsia Schedule this season, two of those in Australia in early December. The 2010 schedule follows an inaugural season in 2009 where five events were played.

While the field of 154 is not overly strong (China’s Liang Wen Chong at 89 is the leading world ranked player in the field and only player from the top 100) it is what the event and others on the OneAsia schedule offer to emerging players that provides most excitement.

Not only is this tour likely to develop into a great pathway to more significant tours worldwide but importantly it is likely to become a viable option as a full time tour in its own right.

Scott Strange the winner of the European Tour’s Wales and China Opens in the past two years is the leading world ranked Australasian and although he has played in only two events in 2010 he is a class player at best and could do well.

Strange finished runner up to Robert Allenby in his last OneAsia event, the Australian PGA Championship.

Korean golfer Kim Kyung-tae is the leading world ranked Korean in the field, the 23 year old one of the stars of the Japan Golf Tour in 2009 where he finished in 8th position on the Japan Golf Tour money list.

Fellow countryman Kim Hyung Tae is another player in good form having won the recent China Korea Tour’s KEB Invitational.

There are many of the leading players from last year’s Korean Tour money list lining up including nearly all of the leading 30 on the 2009 Korean Tour money list and amongst the Japanese players in the field is a resurgent Shigeki Maruyama who finished 8th on the Japan Golf Tour money list in 2009.

Maruyama was a three time winner on the USPGA Tour before returning to play golf in Japan on a full time basis in mid 2008 culminating in a victory at the last event of the 2009 season in Tokyo.

Amongst other leading Australasians in the field are Craig Parry and recent winners of State Championship events in Australasia, Andrew Bonhomme, Steve Bowditch, Mitchell Brown, Jason Norris and Kurt Barnes.

New Zealander David Smail is the leading world ranked Australasian behind Scott Strange in the field while the 4th placed player on the 2009 Australasian Tour money list Josh Geary will also fly the New Zealand flag along with the likes of Michael Long and Mike Hendry.

The tournament carries prize-money of US$1 million which is now the prerequisite of any One Asia Tour event.

This week’s tournament will be followed in two week’s time by the Volvo China Open an event co sanctioned between the One Asia and European Tours.