Asian Tour to Resume European Tour Merger Talks After Appointing Chairman

The Asian Tour will resume its merger negotiations with the European Tour after the organisation appointed Jimmy Masrin as its board chairman.

The planned merger was in doubt last month when Asian Tour chief executive Mike Kerr resigned for unknown and unconfirmed reasons.  

Kerr’s decision to step down could be attributed to the fact that several players of the Asian Tour were not entirely happy with the potential merger with the European Tour and expressed this at a players’ meeting at the Macau Open in October.

The players believed their opportunities would be limited by the merger.

The Asian Tour has said their newly re-structured board, which will be headed by Indonesian businessman Masrin, would work to ensure their players would benefit out of any merger with their larger counterparts.

“The board also agreed to resume discussions with the European Tour following the recent announcement on a proposed partnership between the two tours,” interim Asian Tour commissioner Kyi Hla Han said in a short statement.

“The board remains fully committed to protect and enhance the careers and playing opportunities of the Asian Tour players.”

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