Overview

This week marks the 15th edition of the Yeangder TPC, which has always been played at Linkou International Golf & Country Club.

The tournament is the ideal way to restart after the Asian Tour’s mid-year break as it has been one of the Tour’s anchor events for the past two decades – played in one of our key destinations.

It is also always a pleasure to be in the company of the Yeangder Group’s Emmet and Byrant Hsu – who play a tremendous role in pushing the game forward in their country.

Kazu Higa’s victory in the Yeangder TPC last year was significant in many ways that point to the importance of this week’s popular event. Not only did his win put him on course to claim the Asian Tour Order of Merit but Yeangder is also one of his sponsors.

Few tournaments and title sponsors have this kind of attribute, and it is why it has been a key feature on the schedule since its launch in 2010.

Of note this year, is the fact that for the fourth time in the past five years the Yeangder Group have kindly increased the prizemoney. They have raised it to US$1.2million from US$1million – which means it is the joint most lucrative tournament in Taiwan.

It is another example of the incredible support provided by Emmet, who is the Chairman of the Yeangder Group, and his son Bryant Hsu, the Vice Chairman. Bryant, like his father before him, serves on the Asian Tour’s Board of Directors. They are both avid golfers. The Yeangder Group owns HCT Logistics Co., (E-commerce logistics), and Shihlin Electric & Engineering Corp., a high school and various commercial properties.

Their tournament is co-sanctioned with the Taiwan PGA and it is one of three Asian Tour events staged in Chinese-Taipei this year. The Asian Development Tour also visited here for three successive weeks in July.

L-R – Bryant Hsu, Vice President of the Yeangder Group and his father, Emmet Hsu, Chairman of the Yeangder Group.

Tournament Information

• Tournament: Yeangder Tournament Players Championship
• Date: 17 – 20 September, 2026
• Venue: Linkou International Golf and Country Club, Linkou, Chinese Taipei
• Par / Yards: 72 / 7,108 yards
• Purse: US$1.2million
• Asian Tour leg: Tenth
• Edition of tournament: 15th
• Previous winner: Kazuki Higa (JPN)
• Previous winning score: 271 (-17)
• Total number of players: 144
• Format: Stroke play tournament over 4 rounds of 18 holes with a cut after 36 holes to leading 65 plus ties.

Liang Wenchong. Picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.

Field Breakdown

• Order of Merit winners: Kazuki Higa (2025), Sihwan Kim (2022), Jazz Janewattananond (2019), Liang Wenchong (2007)
• Nationalities: 26
• Top contenders: Taichi Kho (HKG), Charlie Lindh (SWE), Ian Snyman (RSA), Travis Smyth (AUS)
• Past champions in the field: Kazuki Higa (2025), Suteepat Prateeptienchai (2024), Poom Saksansin (2023), Travis Smyth (2022), Chieh-po Lee (2021), Yikeun Chang (2019), Ajeetesh Sandhu (2017), Prom Meesawat (2014), Wei-chih Lu (2011).
• Highest ranked player on OWGR: Travis Smyth (AUS) #174
• Highest ranked player on the Order of Merit: Travis Smyth (AUS) #1
• No. of amateurs in the field: 3
• No. of Chinese Taipei players in the field: 40

Linkou International Golf & Country Club. Picture by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.

Tournament Notes

• With the leading player on Asian Tour Order of Merit now earning a full card for the DP World Tour next year extra excitement has been added to the run-in to the season. To be precise the leading available player (not otherwise exempt), to a limit of 5th place in the 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029 season Asian Tour Order of Merit, gains a Category 17 exemption on the DP World Tour for the following season respectively (2027, 2028, 2029, 2030). Also the next two leading available players (not otherwise exempt), to a limit of 10th place in the 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029 season Asian Tour Order of Merit, gain a Category 5 exemption on the HotelPlanner Tour for the following season respectively (2027, 2028, 2029, 2030).
• Travis Smyth from Australia leads the Order of Merit after a win at the International Series Japan, a third-place finish at the Philippine Golf Championship and a solo-fifth at the New Zealand Open presented by Millbrook Resort. On the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia he earlier in the year won the ISPS HANDA Japan-Australasia Championship to wrap up the 2025/26 Order of Merit crown on that tour. That earned him a DP World Tour card for next year meaning Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho, in second place on the Asian Tour Merit list, is currently in line to join him in Europe in 2027.
• Kho won the most recent Asian Tour event, the International Series Morocco, in dramatic fashion over Bubba Watson just before the mid-year break. The win came the week following a T2 at the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup on the Japan Tour after coming up short in a three-way playoff. Prior to his win in Morocco Kho had one career victory on the Asian Tour, the 2023 World City Championship presented by Hong Kong Golf Club.
• Charlie Lindh from Sweden posted his first Asian Tour win at the am green IGPL Bharath Classic in early June with an emphatic eagle on the 72^nd Two weeks before that he finished solo-second at the Kolon Korea Open. He also had a T6 at the New Zealand Open presented by Millbrook Resort in the beginning of March. During the summer Lindh has been playing on the DP World Tour’s secondary Hotel Planner Tour where he posted a T5 and two T13’s.
• South African Ian Snyman is having his best season on the Asian Tour, recording his first Asian Tour victory at the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open in May. He also has a T3 at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, T5’s at the International Series Morocco and Philippine Golf Championship and a T10 at the Kolon Korea Open. Third on the Merit list he is also in pursuit of DP World Tour playing rights.
• When defending champion Kazuki Higa from Japan won this tournament last year it was his second win in consecutive weeks after winning the Shinhan Donghae Open in Korea the week before. He also had five other top 10’s to seal the Order of Merit crown at the end of the season. He has been playing sparingly on the Asian Tour this year with only three appearances and a T36 as his best result so far. On the Japan Tour his best finish has been a runner-up at the Jumbo Ozaki Memorial Tournament in late August.
• Chie-po Lee is the highest ranked Chinese Taipei player on the Asian Tour Order of Merit so far this season sitting in 25^th place after nine events. Lee won this tournament in 2021 when it was played on the local tour because of Covid-19, and also finished runner-up when the event returned to the Asian Tour schedule in 2022.
• Fellow local star Wei-hsuan Wang had his best Asian Tour season in 2025 when he finished ninth on the Order of Merit following a T2 in this tournament, a runner-up at the SJM Macao Open after a playoff loss, and a third-place finish at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters. He won the local circuit Order of Merit last year and has two wins and three T2’s there so far this season.
• Linkou International Golf & Country Club is designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr.. Established in 1965, this golf course is located near the Bali coast and is a premier golfing destination in northern Taiwan.  The club features 27 holes divided into three loops: East, West and South and offers stunning views of the Guanyin Mountain, the Tamsui River mouth and Taipei Port.