The Asian Development Tour’s (ADT) strong bond with Malaysian golf will push on unabated once more this season with an event from the nation’s impressive domestic circuit, the Toyota Tour, joining the schedule as a jointly sanctioned tournament.

The Toyota Tour Championship, the culmination of the Toyota Tour calendar, will grace the ADT’s 2024 schedule – which is currently in the process of being finalised and will be released in due course.

The MYR400,000 (approximately US$85,000) event, which was also played on the ADT last year and won by Thailand’s Suttinon Panyo (main picture), will be held at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club  ̶  an Asian Tour Destinations member  ̶  from November 20-23.

The field size will be 144, consisting of 66 ADT members, 66 players from the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour and 12 invites.

Said Ken Kudo, Associate Director, Partnerships, Asian Tour: “We were absolutely delighted to see the Toyota Tour Championship become part of our schedule for the first time last year, and so we warmly welcome it back.

“It is one of the biggest events in Malaysia and made a big impact on the ADT last year and is representative of the high standard of events we want staged on our schedule. We thank UMW Toyota Motor, the Professional Golf of Malaysia Tour and Kota Permai Golf and Country Club (main picture) for their contribution and commitment.

“This is the first of a series of announcements relating to ADT events being played in Malaysia, one of the circuit’s most popular destinations.”

With promotion to the Asian Tour in 2025 the prize for the top-10 in the end-of-season ADT standings, the Toyota Tour Championship, and the other Malaysian events to be confirmed, will be pivotal in determining which players make the step-up next year.

Launched last year, the Toyota Tour is a tri-party agreement between the PGM Tour, UMW Toyota Motor as the naming partner and MST Golf as the delivery agency.

Today’s announcement comes off the back of the news earlier this week that the ADT will welcome two events from the VGA (Vietnam Golf Association) Tour onto its schedule this year – the Lexus Challenge and the Nam A Bank Vietnam Masters.

Two tournaments in Thailand, the ADT–All Thailand Partnership Trophy and the Singha Laguna Phuket Open, were also recently confirmed – building momentum before the forthcoming full schedule announcement.

“It’s shaping up to be a very special season on the ADT with the schedule looking impressive and extensive, with a significant increase in the number of events and total prizemoney,” added Kudo.