Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: The Asian Development Tour (ADT) is set to make its long-awaited return to Malaysia next month.

Following a break of three years, Seri Selangor Golf Club will host the Selangor Masters from November 23-26.

With a purse of US$150,000 it will be one of the most lucrative ADT tournaments this season.

The tournament, which was previously held on the Asian Tour from 2008 to 2014, will play a key role in determining the final positions on the ADT Order of Merit, with players vying to finish inside the top-10 to earn playing rights on the Asian Tour in 2023.

Jointly sanctioned with Asian Tour’s long-time partner Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour, the Selangor Masters will feature a 144-man field consisting of 98 players from the ADT and 40 players from the PGM, along with six sponsor invitations.

It will also be the first international golf tournament to be held in Malaysia since the Malaysia Open, which was the last event to be held on the Asian Tour in March 2020 before the season was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The last ADT event in Malaysia, a country that used to host multiple ADT events, was held in November 2019 and won by Thailand’s Nirun Sae-Ueng.

The Selangor Masters has celebrated many worthy champions, including Ben Leong (2008), the only Malaysian to have won an Asian Tour event in Malaysia, Australian Rick Kulacz (2009), Angelo Que (2010) of the Philippines and Joonas Granberg (2011) of Finland.

Thais Thaworn Wiratchant (2012), Pariya Junhasavasdikul (2013) and Chapchai Nirat (2014), who emerged victorious in a play-off to end a five-year title drought for his fourth win on Tour, claimed the last three editions of the Selangor Masters.

The Selangor Masters will mark the 14th leg of the current ADT season which celebrated the rise of Order of Merit leader Suteepat Prateeptienchai, who won three titles to earn playing rights for the remainder of the current season on the Asian Tour.

The 29-year-old is attempting to become the third player from Thailand to lift the Order of Merit crown following Pavit Tangkamolprasert (2014) and Pannakorn Uthaipas (2017) since the ADT was inaugurated in 2010.

The ADT is set to stage a minimum of 14 tournaments this year across seven countries – Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Vietnam.