SINGAPORE, Dec 17: Asian golf had another stellar year in 2007, with tournaments growing in stature and crowds flocking to catch a glimpse of an increasing number of top name stars.

The region played host to 31 tournaments over the course of the year, nine of them co-sanctioned with the European Tour.

Three of them - Singapore Open, HSBC Champions and the World Cup - offered in excess of four million dollars in prize money as sponsors continued to pump cash into the fast-growing sport.

Winners in Asia in 2007 read like a who’s who of world golf -Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Angel Cabrera, Miguel Angel Jimenez - as the trickle of big names playing on the continent turned into a flood.

But there was also success for Asian Tour regulars, with stalwarts like the Philippines’s Frankie Minoza, India’s Jyoti Randhawa, and Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant all scoring victories.

In all, there were 28 different winners with only Taiwan’s Lu Wen-teh lifting more than one trophy - the Macau Open and the Taiwan Masters. Scotland won the World Cup team event.

But it was Liang Wen-chong who outshone them all, winning the European-sanctioned Singapore Masters and posting eight other top-10s to become the first man from China to win the Order of Merit title.

He was also voted the Players’ Player of the Year.

Thailand’s Chapchai Wirat, who finished second in the money-race, also won a European co-sanctioned tournament (TCL Classic), as did South Africa’s Anton Haig (Johnnie Walker Classic), giving them playing rights in Europe.

The man who continued to be the pacesettter for Asia though was K.J Choi of South Korea, who burst into the world’s top 10 for the first time with two victories on the US PGA Tour, where he now plays most of his golf.

Sweden’s Daniel Chopra, another who cut his teeth on the Asian Tour, also claimed a breakthrough victory on the US Tour by one stroke at the Ginn sur Mer Classic, although that was the extent of Asian success overseas.

“It has been a great year for the Asian Tour which is on an uphill trend,” executive chairman Kyi Hla Han told AFP.

“What has also been encouraging is that we have seen a lot of young players making breakthroughs this year. There is a lot of potential and the future looks very promising.”

With big name stars heading to the region and Asian players gaining credibility, sponsors continued to jump on board, with tournaments in 16 countries, including new venues in Vietnam and Cambodia.

While the tour went from strength to strength, it was also a year when relations between Asia and Europe took a hit as the European Tour announced 2008 tournaments in India and South Korea without involving the Asian Tour.

Bigger and better things are planned for next year, including a bumper three weeks in November where 17.25 million dollars will be up for grabs in four tournaments that are set to attract even more of the world’s best golfers.—AFP