Malaysia set to welcome fourth Asian Tour event

KUALA LUMPUR: The 2018 Asian Tour could see as many as four tournaments being staged in Malaysia.

The Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) revealed that they are in talks with the Asian Tour on hosting a full-field event in December next year.

If the talks come to fruition, it will be the fourth Asian Tour tournament in Malaysia next year after the EurAsia Cup (Jan 12-14), the Maybank Championship (Feb 1-4) and CIMB Classic (October).

PGM chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid (pic) said he has been in “active discussion” with Asian Tour chairman Jimmy Masrin recently and is confident of sealing the deal.

“There’s currently no full-field Asian Tour event in Malaysia and we would like to bring one here next season as the Tour’s last stop in December,” said Ahmad Sarji.

“We’ve had talks with the Asian Tour and the progress has been encouraging and has entered the final stage. But we’re also in the midst of looking for sponsors to make it happen.”

Jimmy, who attended the PGM Tour calendar launch on Wednesday, has confirmed PGM’s interest.

“We hope we can have something going for Malaysia next year,” he said.

The now- defunct Selangor Masters was the last full-field event hosted in Malaysia in 2014. The tournament was discontinued after its seventh edition.

The Volvo Masters of Malaysia (1997-2001) and Iskandar Johor Open (2007-2012) were the other two tournaments with similar status.

The Maybank Championship is a limited-field event as it’s co-sanctioned with the European Tour, so is the CIMB Classic which is one of the US PGA Tour stops.