Asian Tour golf restart in doubt as Japan tournament axed

HONG KONG: The restart of golf’s Asian Tour was thrown into jeopardy on Friday as Japan’s Panasonic Open became the latest tournament to be cancelled, leaving just one event scheduled for the rest of this year. Officials blamed “disruptions caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic” for the scrapping of the event, which was scheduled to run in September.

After the Taiwan Masters was axed earlier this month, only the Shinhan Donghae Open in South Korea remains on the 2020 schedule, which has been frozen since March because of the coronavirus. Asian Tour commissioner and chief executive Cho Minn Thant called the latest cancellation “unfortunate”, lamenting the “challenging circumstances the world is experiencing in 2020”.

The Asian Tour has so far been unable to join America’s PGA Tour and the European Tour in returning to play. Only four Asian Tour events have been possible so far this year, compared to 23 played in 2019.