Superstar's absence may turn US PGA towards Asia

TOKYO: World No 1 Tiger Woods's absence from golf may prompt the US PGA Tour to court sponsors more aggressively in Asia, further embracing Japanese teenage star Ryo Ishikawa, a Japan Tour executive says.

The European Tour has tapped the booming Asian market over the years but the US body started to look at the region only "in the past year or two", Japan Golf Tour Organization senior director Hiroshi Yamanaka said.

"Asia is where money moves and gathers," he said as global sponsors started to desert the 33-year-old American superstar.