BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -The Asian Tour begins its season Thursday with organizers still piecing together a schedule in the face of financial turmoil and the challenge of a rival tour.
As the global economy plateaus rather than improves, Asian Tour organizers have been dealing with the loss of two of its richest events - the Indian Masters and season-ending Volvo Masters.
A new event, the Avantha Masters, will be played in New Delhi beginning Feb. 11 with a purse of $2.1 million. The tour calendar also has a slot for The Tour Championship in December, though a venue has yet to be set.
However, replacements for the lost events has been offset by doubt over the future of the Indonesian Open, another major tournament with a purse of more than $1 million.
Tour organizers have been in touch with the promoter Global One - which had talked of a switch from its February dates - but there were no firm plans in place for a 2010 tournament, and questions remained over if and when it would proceed.
In all, there were seven slots on the calendar carrying the letters TBA: four in the period from late March to late May, and another three at the end of the season.
One event that is back on the schedule is the Myanmar Open, with the Asian Tour returning to the military-ruled state after a four-year absence. It will be held April 8-11 - the same dates as The Masters.
The Asian Tour is also facing competition from the rival OneAsia golf series, which has expanded in 2010. OneAsia was formed with the idea of drawing together the four major stand-alone golf tours in the Asia-Pacific: Australasia, Japan, South Korea and China.
While there is still no Japan involvement on its calendar, OneAsia is pushing ahead with tournaments in the three other countries for 2010, with ten scheduled tournaments this year each with a purse of at least $1 million.
Faced with economic challenges and an upstart series, the Asian Tour has put together an in-house television production team and struck TV deals in Britain, Scandanavia and Australia in an effort to boost the profile of its events and players, plus providing value for sponsors.
The visibility of Asian players received a boost last year when South Korea's Yang Yong-eun won the PGA Championship.
``Many of our players are world-class and Yang Yong-eun's breakthrough last year when he became Asia's first major champion will only open the floodgates for more Asian players to triumph in major championships,'' Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han said.
The first tournament of the new season, the Asian Tour International at Thailand's Suwan Golf and Country Club, begins Thursday.
Defending champion James Kamte of South Africa has arrived, but his clubs have not.
``I've been trying to chase the airport and I phoned the Asian Tour office and asked for some clubs,'' Kamte said. ``If I have to use them the whole week, I'll use them. If my clubs arrive, it'll be a bonus.''
Thai favorite Thaworn Wiratchant will be among the contenders at Suwan, along with Japan's Daisuke Maryama and Azuma Yano, India's Gaganjeet Bhullar, Singapore's Lam Chih Bing and Australia's Marcus Both.
