1997–98 Asia Golf Circuit

The 1997–98 Asia Golf Circuit was the 37th season of the Asia Golf Circuit (formerly the Far East Circuit), one of the main professional golf tours in Asia (outside of Japan) alongside the Asian PGA Tour.

1997–98 Asia Golf Circuit season

Duration	1 May 1997 (1997-05-01) – 3 May 1998 (1998-05-03)
Number of official events	7
Most wins	Frankie Miñoza (4)
Order of Merit	Frankie Miñoza
Rookie of the Year	Scott Rowe
← 1996–97 1999 →

OWGR discontinuation

From 1998 onwards, the Asia Golf Circuit was discontinued from the Official World Golf Ranking. The 1997 Maekyung LG Fashion Open was the final event to receive OWGR points.^[1]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1997–98 season.^[2][3]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (US$)	Winner[a]	OWGR points	Other tours[b]	Notes
4 May	Maekyung LG Fashion Open	South Korea	400,000	Shin Yong-jin (1)	12	KOR
15 Feb	Ericsson Philippine Masters	Philippines	100,000	Frankie Miñoza (7)	n/a		Upgraded to official event
22 Feb	Benson & Hedges Malaysian Open	Malaysia	300,000	Ed Fryatt (3)	n/a
1 Mar	Rolex Masters	Singapore	300,000	Frankie Miñoza (8)	n/a
22 Mar	Philippine Open	Philippines	250,000	Frankie Miñoza (9)	n/a
26 Apr	Kirin Open	Japan	¥100,000,000	Frankie Miñoza (10)	24	JPN
3 May	Maekyung LG Fashion Open	South Korea	₩350,000,000	Scott Rowe (1)	n/a	KOR

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in U.S. dollars.^[4] The leading player on the Order of Merit earned status to play on the 1998 PGA of Japan Tour.^[5]

Position	Player	Prize money ($)
1	Frankie Miñoza	252,048
2	Ed Fryatt	90,352
3	Jim Rutledge	85,614
4	Scott Rowe	77,678
5	Shin Yong-jin	73,833

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Rookie of the Year (Tun Abdul Hamid Omar Award)	Scott Rowe	[6]

Notes

1. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Asia Golf Circuit events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Asia Golf Circuit members.
2. JPN − PGA of Japan Tour; KOR − Korean Tour.

References

1. "How the ranking evolved". Official World Golf Ranking. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
2. Laidlaw, Renton (1999). The Royal & Ancient Golfer's Handbook 1999. p. 175. ISBN 0333725719. Retrieved 23 February 2024 – via Archive.org.
3. Oh, Tae-sik (31 December 1997). "프로골프 아시안투어 상반기 경기일정 확정 국내 톱랭커 대거 참여" [The competition schedule for the first half of the professional golf Asian tour has been confirmed. A large number of top rankers in Korea will participate.]. Maeil Newspaper (in Korean). Retrieved 23 February 2024.
4. "신용진, 아시안투어 상금랭킹 5위" [Shin Yong-jin, 5th place in the Asian Tour prize ranking]. The Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). 7 May 1998. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
5. "ミノザ逃げきり。アジアンツアー総合優勝も。" [Miñoza ran away. Also won the overall championship on the Asian Tour.]. Golf Digest Japan (in Japanese). 26 April 1998. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
6. Alladin, Unus (8 May 1998). "Cool head wins rookie Rowe top Seoul prize". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 23 February 2024.