SINGAPORE: The fledgling OneAsia Tour was dealt a hammer blow yesterday when Korean golfers voted to boycott all of its events across the region.The outcome of a Korea Professional Golfers’ Association (KPGA) meeting in Seoul was worse than OneAsia expected, with players previously only threatening to stay away from local tournaments.
Now they have pulled the plug on all other events, which are hosted by China and Australia.
“The players will boycott every OneAsia event in the Asian region, not just in Korea,” Korea Professional Golfers’ Association (KPGA) director of operations BJ Song told AFP after the meeting.
“The way OneAsia is run is not appropriate for us.”
The Koreans are unhappy at the number of places available to locals at next week’s Maekyung Open and the SK Telecom Open.
But there was also discontent with the tour simply absorbing existing tournaments and offering nothing new, as well as concern that it was being dictated by commercial, and not player, interests.
Song suggested that they would like to realign themselves with the established Asian Tour, which used to co-sanction the Maekyung Open and SK Telecom before Oneasia hit the scene. “The Asian Tour is a member of the International Golf Federation. OneAsia is not… And OneAsia is run by SBS,” he added, referring to the Korean broadcaster whose president, Sang Y. Chun, was earlier this month appointed OneAsia’s new chairman and commissioner. — AFP