The Asian Tour resumes play next week with back-to-back events in Chinese-Taipei. One player who will be eagerly anticipating the trip is South African Ian Snyman as he recorded a breakthrough victory at the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open there in May – for his maiden win on the Asian Tour. He’s been a standout performer in the region for an extended period now and this season it has been exciting to see him start to realise his full potential. The Asian Tour’s Simon Wilson reports on the emergence of yet another star from the African continent.

The path taken by South African golfers to the Asian Tour has been well-travelled.

An advert for their nation’s sporting pedigree and golfing-prowess, they have been able to justify making the long journey by achieving great success here – while leaving lasting memories.

The list from the Rainbow Nation is long, and impressive: James Kingston, Jbe Kruger, Nico Van Rensburg, Des Terblanche, Hendrik Buhrmann, Chris Williams, Anton Haig, Craig Kamps, Keith Horne, and more recently Justin Harding, Shaun Norris, plus Jaco Ahlers.

Kingston is the most successful with four wins while Kruger, Van Rensburg and Terblanche have each triumphed on three occasions.

Although very much in a different category, their illustrious compatriots Ernie Els and Retief Goosen are also no strangers to the region with eight titles in Asia between them.

There never appears to be break in their influx and ensuring that is the case at this very moment is the performance of a young man from Cape Town, Ian Snyman.

The 31-year-old is currently in third place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit – his highest placing in five-and-a-half years playing in the region.

Ian Snyman after winning the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open.

It’s the culmination of a consistently steady rise which has come at just the right time with the leading player on the Merit list, not otherwise exempt, earning full playing privileges on the DP World Tour next year.

Asia the destination of choice

Snyman is playing in the region by virtue of making it through the Asian Tour Qualifying School at the beginning of 2020. It was his first attempt at the high-stakes tournament, where he finished in a tie for 10^th at one of the school’s pre-qualifiers and the following week was equal 23^rd in the Final Stage to earn a card for the 2021 season.

Safely negotiating the first hurdle helped justify his decision to play in Asia, which had also been inspired by some of the players from that impressive list of golfers who have gone before him.

He explained: “I saw what Shaun Norris and Justin Harding did in their years in Asia and Japan, and they jumped into the World Rankings high up there to play Majors and stuff, and I thought maybe that’s a great avenue since I tried Korn Ferry my first year out of college. And then I had to decide, am I doing Sunshine Tour or Asia, because their Q schools were the exact same dates and I was like, oh.

“And at the time my good friends Dan and Mark from Smith Exploration, they sponsored me, and they gave me the opportunity to play golf. I didn’t have the funds back then coming out of college, and they gave me the opportunity, so I decided, while I have backing, let’s go to the more expensive route in Asia, and bigger purses as well at that stage. And yeah, it worked out.”

Of course, his joy of graduating was short lived when the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world in dramatic circumstances and stopped play on the Asian Tour for nearly two years.

However, that delay merely served to increase his enthusiasm and when play resumed on the Asian Tour at the end of 2021 he made the cut in his first seven starts – which including a fine joint third placed finish in the International Series Thailand.

Snyman pictured with family members at the GS Caltex Maekyung Masters in May.

That start set the tone for his Asian adventure. Regularly featuring on the leaderboard, often being interviewed by the media and enjoying a strong social media presence Snyman has made the most of his Asian Tour membership.

He finished 19^th on the Merit list in that first full season on the Asian Tour in 2022, when he also made headlines with a top-10 finish in the International Series England which earned him invites to some of the LIV Golf League events.

In time Snyman eventually reached the point where earned the reputation as one of the best players on the Asian Tour not to win.

Game falling into place

He came narrowly close to losing that tag in 2025 when he tied for second in the New Zealand Open– he missed a six-foot putt to miss out on a play-off – having been equal sixth the year before. He also had a run for the title at the Philippine Open in 2025 finishing in joint fifth place, adding to a wealth of top-10 results.

However, it’s been this season that the South African’s game has truly fallen into place.

He started the year strongly by tying for fifth in the season-opening Philippine Golf Championship, before an inspired three weeks in May saw him play arguably the best golf of his career.

In the first week of that month he came close to winning the GS Caltex Maekyung Open in Korea, tying for third; the following week he went on to claim the Taiwan Class Taifong Open, for his maiden title on the Asian Tour; while two weeks later finished in joint 10^th in the Kolon Korea Open.

Not content to sit on his laurels he followed that up soon after in June with a top-15 in the IGPL Bharath Classic, in Morocco, and an equal fifth place finish in the International Series Morocco, the ensuing week, to put the pressure on the Order of Merit leader Travis Smyth from Australia and Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho in second place.

Snyman says his game has fallen into place through better driving and putting.

It was the kind of inspired golf he had been searching for which he said was mainly down to a big improvement in his putting, thanks to work done with his coach Paul MacKenzie.

“My putting got easier for the first time in a very long time,” he said.

“I think it helps free up the rest of the game as well. I was struggling a little bit with closing the putter face. It would remain open when I hit certain putts. I spent some time on Capto [a putting analysis system], which confirmed that the face was open. After that, I was kind of experimenting how to get the face to shut, and we worked on certain releases, that was the one thing.

“We also worked on shoulder alignment, and those were basically the two things that kind of fixed the puzzle, if I can say that. It really made a major difference for me. I didn’t realise my shoulder alignment was slightly out, and I think it’s been out for a while. It has just made me stroke the ball a lot better. It’s like I’m not fighting the club face anymore. It’s just falling on path, and I don’t have to manipulate it to square up.”

A switch to Titleist has also been very beneficial he feels.

He explained: “The driver has been a great help. It’s spinning a lot less than my previous driver. If it spins too little, it’s not a good thing, but it’s spinning the right amount. I feel like I am hitting the ball slightly further with my driver and irons and the wind isn’t affecting the shots as much.”

Home away from home

There is no doubt Snyman feels at home playing in Asia.

He enjoys the travel, the food and the myriad of different cultures. He has also benefitted grately from having a family member living in the region.

His sister Liezl lives in Korea and with the Asian Tour frequently visiting the Land of Morning Calm he has been able to enjoy regularly spending time with her and her family.

She moved to Korea 15 years ago to teach English, and married a Korean gentleman, Jihwan Bach. They have two children, Hay-Leigh and Ian – named after his uncle.

That fine showing at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open in Korea just before winning in Chinese-Taipei, was definitely helped by the presence of kin as his brother Ryno also flew out to caddie for him. Their sister was unaware that Ryno made the tip, with his wife Mariette, and got a wonderful surprise when she thought she came to watch just one sibling in action at the start of the second round.

Snyman pictured at the SJM Macao Open in 2024.

“It’s been quite special having, let’s say half of the full family here,” said Snyman, at the time.

“I nearly shed a tear before the round, because my sister, she came and she saw my brother, and she started crying, and it’s just been a whole special feeling.”

He finished that week just two shots behind the champion Minhyuk Song from Korea, but it proved to be the catalyst for greater things.

“It [the win] was more relief than anything else,” Snyman said.

“Two months before that, I was in the shower, and I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen. I asked myself that question, like, what else can I change, what should I do, and a hot putter makes you like more relaxed on the golf course, because you know you can up and down.

“And the chipping has also been improved, like the whole game’s improved, the new clubs from Titleist have drastically helped as well. I’m hitting draws and fades like I want to, where previously I struggled with the draw, and I feel this driver really helps me with the draw, so it’s actually an accumulation of a lot of things.”

Snyman – who played college golf at the University of North Texas and not long after turning professional in 2018 caught the eye by winning five times in one season on the Big Easy Tour, a feeder tour for the Sunshine Tour in South Africa – has a very clear goal to climb the Official World Golf Ranking.  He is currently in 327^th place, having reached a high before of 275^th.

He also has his eye on the Order of Merit title, and after his brilliant run of form this year there’s no doubt he will be a fancied runner and as he says: “That’s on the radar, that’s what we’re working towards, and yeah, after the win, I can see it, I’m up there, so there’s a possibility.”