There is a clear impetus from the PGA Tour to expand within Asia. The Tour announced this week that next season's PGA Tour schedule will feature the normal events in China (HSBC Champions) and Malaysia (CIMB Classic), but it will also feature a new event in South Korea.
The tournament does have a sponsor, though. The CJ Corporation, which specializes in a number of different industries and used to be part of Samsung. The CJ Cup at Nine Bridges will be played Oct. 16-22, 2017.
So now there will be a full Asian swing with these three events in the fall. The PGA Tour has done a good job taking its league global, although I still wish there was a full-blown global tour that combined the best golfers from the European Tour with the PGA Tour. It seems like the PGA Tour is willing to travel that path on its own.
You have to look no further than the 2015 Presidents Cup, which was also held in South Korea. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem spoke glowingly about the future of the sport in that country.
"Golf generally is growing in Asia," said Finchem "But it needs to combine creating elite players with creating access to the game by many, many more people for it to reach its potential. And that's a challenge everywhere; it's a challenge in the United States. But it's worth the effort, and we think this is a very positive week to impact that."
I love that the PGA Tour is branching out to yet another country and hope this event and its $9.25 million purse thrive there for a really long time.
