Asian Tour Commissioner Cho Minn Thant has sung the praise in creating history by bringing two Tour events to England and Scotland.
The Tour proudly hosted the International Series England last fortnight at Close House in north-eastern England and last week we saw the Asian Tour flags flying high over the Torrance course at the Fairmont Resort, and located just a few miles from the famed Old Course at St. Andrews.
The Home of Golf was blessed with warm, near windless conditions, and while there was a 5-minute rain squall on Sunday, TV footage of the town and the host course were stunning.
Asian Tour Commissioner Cho Minn Thant.
“The Asian Tour is just so pleased and while we thought it would be a good, it’s been a phenomenal week and that is from many aspects”, said Thant
“St. Andrews is the spiritual home of golf with many of our players, officials, caddies have never been here before. Outside of the Fairmont, they’ve been visiting the Old Course, some have been playing Dumbarnie Links while others were guests at Crail. They’re really enjoyed the week here.
“So, it was just been an awesome week for them to soak-up the sights and sounds, and the town of St. Andrews really turned-on the good weather for us.
“I’ve been here to St. Andrews on a number of occasions but I have never experienced five or six days in a row with the glorious weather we had this week. It was just outstanding.
“I don’t want to say it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity because I do hope we come back but it’s been a really great week for the whole of the Asian Tour”.
Thant also spoke of the strength of the field that boasted the likes of Ryder Cup stars Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey and Bernd Wiesberger but also a number of other LIV players including double PGA Tour and double Australian Open champion Aussie Matt Jones who went a record 10 extra play-off holes but losing out Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra.
“We had a very strong field to begin with and with a good mix of LIV players, Asian Tour players and local players, so players from all over the world and that resulted in a very good week”, he said.
“It was looking like a five or six-way play-off towards the later stages of the round but then to have Eugenio and Matt involved in a record 10-hole play-off was remarkable”.
And Thant was asked if he felt there would be a strong possibility the Tour will return to St. Andrews in a year’s time.
“Yes, I think so but we have to make sure the tournaments are sustainable,” he said.
“We would like to get some corporate partners behind us. This week and Newcastle last week are two really strong weeks but I do think we do make sure we are financially sustainable, and we will be now on the lookout for sponsors.
“Both events looked good on TV with St. Andrews looking stunning. I don’t think you can get better views than the pictures we saw this week. Also, our presentation has been really good and, obviously we’ve enjoyed it while the golf courses have been been. We’d also love, as I said, to keep both venues on the 2024 Asian Tour calendar”.
