Asian Tour commissioner Cho Minn Thant wants any potential new global tour to feature an Australian stop

One of the most influential powerbrokers in professional golf wants to harness the popularity of players like Cameron Smith, emerging as a staunch advocate for the game in Australia as the sport’s civil war inches towards an end.

One of the most influential powerbrokers in professional golf wants any potential new global tour to feature an Australian stop and hasn’t ruled out the booming Asian circuit capitalising on the popularity of Cameron Smith with an event on these shores.

Asian Tour commissioner Cho Minn Thant, who was raised and educated in Canberra and saved his circuit from ruin after the Covid pandemic, has emerged as a staunch advocate for the game in Australia as the sport’s civil war inches towards an end.

The United States’ PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the financier of the LIV Golf league which has spent billions of dollars poaching stars such as Smith, are slowly negotiating a deal to end years of turmoil.

CEO of the Asian Tour Cho Minn Thant. Picture: Ian Walton/Asian Tour

Thant has quietly gone about rebuilding his own tour after signing a 10-year agreement with PIF to bankroll a suite of lucrative International Series events.

It has helped close the gap to the DP World Tour as the second largest traditional circuit behind the PGA Tour.

While they’ll host tournaments in countries such as Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines, India, Chinese Taipei and even New Zealand next year, the Asian Tour’s footprint is yet to creep into Australia despite a number of their players coming from these shores.

But Thant is open to change.

“We’ve thought about it,” he told News Corp.

“The LIV tournament in Adelaide is a massive event, and there’s a bit of a lockout around Adelaide itself having an International Series event around the same time. Ideally, we would go back to back with the LIV event in Adelaide (which will be staged in February next year).

“Unfortunately, there’s some restrictions around that.

“(But) there’s always interest from our side. There’s also no reason why the Asian Tour can’t collaborate with the PGA Tour of Australasia and do a series of events in the future. It doesn’t have to be the International Series. We have a huge crossover of members.”

Cameron Smith is a massive drawcard for Australia. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Smith and his all-Australian LIV Golf team of Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones travelled to Saudi Arabia earlier this month for the last International Series event of the year, which was won by Chile’s Joaquin Niemann in a three-man playoff featuring Smith.

Thirty-eight LIV contracted players featured in the tournament, which was played the week after the Australian Open.

Smith will join the likes of Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson in Adelaide for LIV’s third staging of an Australian event, a pointer to what Thant says is a non-negotiable that any new global circuit heads Down Under.

“It’s given Australian golf a spring back in its step,” he said.

“The Ripper GC team has developed a cult following and Cam is also playing a huge part in making golf interesting again for Australia. He’s such an unassuming guy, easy to talk to and get along with. He’s a superstar, but he doesn’t have that mentality.

“It will be good for a global tour to showcase golf all around the world. For a time there, you basically had to go to America to watch the best players in the world play.

“Hopefully this is shown there is interest in golf all around the world – and golf should travel. Japan is a huge market and the rest of Asia is a huge market. Korea is massive and there’s interest in Australia and the Middle East obviously.

“We should be treating them to more world class golf.”

Thant has worked closely with LIV boss Greg Norman. Picture: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for The Showdown

The DP World Tour co-sanctions Australia’s two biggest events each summer – the Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open – the latter of which has drawn criticism from leading men’s and women’s players about both sexes competing on the same course in the same week at the end of November.

Thant said the format was “funky” and argued it was fine for men and women to play alongside each other – only if it was on separate courses across a 36-hole property such as Royal Melbourne or Peninsula Kingswood on the Melbourne sandbelt.

“It’s always been one of the biggest tournaments in the world,” he said.

“Even before my time when the Arnold Palmers and Jack Nicklauses of the world used to go down there, it was a really big event on the global golf calendar. I’d like to see it come back to that stature.

“Setting up the golf course for both women and men to play together, and pace of play issues, they’re not the best from a logistic and organisational standpoint.”

Thant brought the Asian Tour back from the brink. Photo: Jill Brammer/Asian Tour

Thant has worked closely alongside LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman, who will be replaced in the role despite being the architect for the upstart league.

Norman is expected to be succeeded by sports executive Scott O’Neil, who is reportedly angling for LIV to broker a breakthrough American television deal with Fox Sports for 2025.

Asked about Norman’s impact, Thant said: “I still regard him as one of the best players to have played golf in his playing days. You can’t forget he was world No. 1 for the second longest period after Tiger Woods. I still look at him from that personal standpoint.

“But in terms of LIV Golf, it basically changed the golf industry. You can bet the PGA Tour wouldn’t be playing for US$20 million each week at elevated events if it wasn’t for LIV Golf.

“At a critical time for golf where the sport is evolving, he was one of the main factors in making that happen.”