The Asian PGA has officially joined the International Federation of PGA Tours as its sixth member with effect from January 1, 2000.
The Federation is the governing body of the world's leading professional golf Tours and the sanctioning and organising body of the World Golf Championships. It is now comprised of the Asian PGA, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA TOUR, PGA Tour of Australasia and Southern Africa Tour. The Asian PGA was an associate member of the organisation since 1998.
The Asian PGA just completed its fifth season of staging events across Asia over ten months. The 1999 campaign featured 18 tournaments, among them 13 national Opens including those of China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The Asian PGA also tri-sanctioned the Johnnie Walker Classic with the European Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia and joint-sanctioned the Benson & Hedges Malayasian Open with the European Tour. They welcomed Davidoff Café as their Tour's title sponsor in 1999.
The Davidoff Tour played for a total prize money of US$5.5 million in 1999. Kyi Hla Han of Myanmar was the leading money winner with US$204,210 in 16 events.
Ramlan Harun is Executive Director of the Asian PGA, which is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Effective January 1, 2000, players who compete in Asian PGA - Davidoff Tour events will be awarded Official World Golf Ranking points.
The International Federation of PGA Tours was formed in 1996 to work towards the common interest of internationalising the game of golf. To that end, one of its key initiatives is to create and sanction world-class competitions for the game's foremost international players. The World Golf Championships are a result of that initiative.
The World Golf Championships consist of the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship, NEC Invitational, American Express Championship and EMC World Cup.
Asian PGA members are eligible to compete in the Championships in 2000 for the first time.
