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Asian Tour celebrates double Asian victory

The Asian Tour has hailed Sunday's wins by Jeev Milkha Singh and Choi Kyung-ju in Europe and the United States respectively as a significant milestone for golf in the region.

India's Singh claimed an impressive one-shot triumph against the European Tour's elite in the season-ending Volvo Masters in Spain and became only the third Asian to win on European soil.

Across the Atlantic, Choi, Korea's most famous golf export, bagged his fourth career title on the US PGA Tour, coasting to a comfortable four-shot victory in the Chrysler Championship.

This is the first time that Asians have won on the same weekend on two of the world's leading circuits and Asian Tour Chairman Kyi Hla Han said the terrific feats have reinforced the belief that Asian golf is making a giant leap forward on the international front.

"The wonderful performances by Jeev and Choi over the weekend reflect positively on the Asian Tour and the growing standard of play amongst our players. Their triumphs will inspire Asians to aim for higher goals, including winning the Majors," said Han.

"Over the past few years, our talented members have regularly claimed victories in co-sanctioned events with the European Tour in Asia but to see Jeev winning on European soil against a world-class field is a ground-breaking achievement.

"It is also fulfilling to see Choi lift another title. He cut his professional teeth on the Asian Tour during the 1990s and has now shown once again that Asians have the talent to win in America.

"I have no doubt that his and Jeev's success will pave the way for more Asians to make their mark on the world stage," added Han.

Singh can certainly sweeten his season even further by wrapping up the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit title with two counting events, the UBS Hong Kong Open and the Volvo Masters of Asia in Bangkok, remaining.

He presently leads the USB Order of Merit with winnings of US$470,108, with Thailand's Prom Meesawat in second place on US$351,871.

The son of an Olympic runner, Singh returned to the winner's enclosure in April after a lapse of seven years when he won the co-sanctioned Volvo China Open in Beijing and has subsequently strung together a stunning run of form which includes 13 top-10s on the Asian, Japan and European Tours. He joins Chinese Taipei’s Lu Liang-huan and Choi as the other only Asians to taste victory on European soil.

Choi's success ensured a top-30 finish on the US PGA Tour money list which comes with an invitation to the US Masters next April, the year's first major.

He finished third at the Masters in 2004 which Han believes the Korean will savour another return to Augusta National Golf Club. "He's shown a great liking for the Masters and we have every reason to believe that Choi can go on to lift a major title in the very near future," said Han.

October 30, 2006