JEJU (South Korea), March 15: European golf chiefs have a “moral responsibility” to back the Asian Tour in the OneAsia row, a senior official told AFP.

However European Tour officials have held talks on the subject and are keeping their options open, international policy director Keith Waters said late on Friday.

“We will certainly keep an open mind (but) we have a moral responsibility to existing partners like the Asian Tour,” Waters said.

“I’m trying to get more information about it. I have met with one or two people in the last few weeks to talk about it.

“It’s probably a bit premature to evaluate how it’s going to work out.”The Asian Tour rejected OneAsia, intended to rival the European and US circuits, on Friday after it was formally endorsed by the domestic tours of Japan, Australia, China and South Korea.

The project’s backers plan an initial 20-stop tour, starting next year, with minimum purses of 1.5 million dollars and existing circuits acting as feeders.

“The new tour will seek to bring together the best tournaments conducted throughout Asia-Pacific to create an alternative elite career pathway for national organisations and their aspiring professional golfers in the region,” they said in a statement.

The Asian Tour has grown to more than 30 tournaments since its launch in 2004, including nine events co-sanctioned by the European Tour this season.

“The Asian Tour unequivocally states that we are not endorsing or participating in this initiative,” Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han said.

Waters stressed loyalty to the Asian Tour but said he hoped Europe would not have to choose between various circuits. “I hope we don’t have to choose between tours. That’s one of the things we have to evaluate,” he said.

“It would be wrong of us to say we’re not working with the Asian Tour. From a moral responsibility we’re very loyal to people we work with.”

The European and Asian tours recently clashed over Europe’s plans to go it alone with the ongoing Ballantine’s Championship here and last month’s Indian Masters. But the dispute appears to have blown over after the Asian Tour was brought on board as co-sanctioner.

“There will always be issues between tours — it’s very difficult to find an arrangement which is perfect for everybody,” Waters said. He added that Europe had no plans for further expansion outside the continent as the tour had already reached capacity with 52 events this year.

“I think we’ve reached our capacity outside the region so I don’t think we’re looking to increase the number of tournaments,” Waters said.—AFP