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- The Asia Golf Circuit was the principal men's professional golf tour in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s through to the mid-late 1990s. The tour was founded in 1961 as the Far East Circuit. The first series of five tournaments was held in 1962 and consisted of the national open championships of the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, plus a final tournament held in Japan. The tour gradually grew over the subsequent years, eventually becoming a regular ten tournament circuit in 1974. Leading players in the end of season standings were granted exemptions into major tournaments around the world, such as The Open Championship, the U.S. Open and the Memorial Tournament, and in later years were rewarded with playing status on the Japan Golf Tour. Tournaments on the circuit also carried world ranking points between 1986, when the rankings were founded, and 1997. For much of its early history the Asia Golf Circuit was dominated by players from Taiwan, Japan and Australia. The circuit became popular with young American professionals during the 1970s through into the 1990s, with future major champions Payne Stewart and Todd Hamilton having considerable success. In 1994 Asian players formed the Asian Professional Golfers Association and the following year started their own Asian PGA Tour, with twice the number of tournaments as the existing tour. Over the next few years, the national opens steadily defected to the new tour and although some replacement tournaments were added, the Asia Golf Circuit declined until it eventually ceased operating some time after 1999. (en)
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