India to host three Asian golf tour events next year

Apart from the Hero Honda Indian Open, the date and prize money of which are yet to be finalised, India will host the USD 1.5 million Avantha Championship from February 11-14 at the DLF Golf and Country Club, followed by the USD 500,000 Nimbus Pro-Am Championship (Feb 18-21) at Delhi Golf Club and Jaypee Greens.

"Dates for the Hero Honda Indian Open, the inaugural Asia Pacific Golf Classic, Malaysia and Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open will also be confirmed at a later time," the Asian Tour said in a statement today.

In the 2010 schedule announced today, Asian Tour announced a minimum of 28 tournaments which will include no fewer than five new events, two of them to be staged in India in February next year.
Of the five new events, India and Malaysia host two each while the Asian Tour is also finalising new events in Chinese Taipei and Vietnam.

Asian Tour also announced that a secondary circuit, the Asian Development Tour, will be launched in 2010 along the lines of the Nationwide Tour in the United States and European Challenge Tour for emerging players.

"We are delighted to announce our 2010 Schedule which will include a minimum of 28 tournaments with over USD 39 million in prize money, which reaffirms our position as a major international golf Tour," Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han said.
Asian Tour International, which will celebrate its third edition, will be the season-opening event to be held in Suwan Country Club in Bangkok from February 4-7, 2010.

The Maybank Malaysian Open will be played in early March while other major events include the Ballantine's Championship in Jeju island, Korea in April.
The Asian Tour's busy stretch of events will start from July till December and will include events like the Barclays Singapore Open, the Hong Kong Open, Iskandar Johor Open and WGC-HSBC Champions in China.