Board Shake-Up at Asian Tour
Singapore: Less than a month after parting ways with its Chief Executive Officer, the Asian Tour has appointed four new Non-Player Board Members and announced that Kyi Hla Han will act as ‘interim Tour Commissioner’.
The Board shake-up comes amid continuing debate about a proposed merger with the European Tour.
According to reports, Mike Kerr resigned as CEO late last month ‘after coming under fire from some players for the way he handled negotiations with the European Tour’.
Although the Asian Tour has yet to make any public comment about Kerr’s departure, it has released a statement confirming that Emmet Hsu (Chairman, Yeangder Group, Taiwan), Enrique K. Razon Jr (Chairman, International Container Terminal Services Inc, Philippines), Jimmy Masrin (President Director and CEO, PT Caturkarsa Megatunggal, Indonesia) and Jaturon Zane Himathongkom (Director of International Sports Marketing, Singha Corp, Thailand) have taken up positions on the Board of Directors.
The statement said: “The quartet are prominent businessmen and industry leaders in their respective countries, avid golfers and have the desire and vision to grow the Asian Tour, which is the official sanctioning body for professional golf in Asia.”
On the Asian Tour website, the names of Hsu, Razon, Masrin and Jaturon have replaced those of long-standing Board members Ken Schofield, the ex-European Tour Chief Executive, Hong Kong-based Canadian businessman Rick Siemens and Gautam Thapar, founder of India’s Avanthar Group.
There are also changes among the Playing Directors with Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing, Singapore-based Australian Scott Barr and Thai Boonchu Ruangkit all standing down.
The Asian Tour statement said: “The current Player Members on the Board of Directors are Jeev Milkha Singh (India) and Zhang Lian-wei (China). Two more Player Members will be nominated onto the Board of Directors by the Tournament Players Committee in due course.”
The Asian Tour also announced the appointment of Myanmar’s Han as interim Tour Commissioner. “Han, who sits on the Board of Directors, will be entrusted to lead the Tour’s executive management, focus on the continued growth of the Asian Tour while enhancing the playing opportunities for its members,” said the statement.
According to a report from Agence France Presse, Lam said this month that he was in favour of the merger with Europe but was facing opposition from fellow players.
