Asian Tour chief hoping row with Europe near resolution

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Reuters) The Asian Tour and European Tour are closer to mending ties after a bitter dispute over two tournaments but major differences remain, a leading Asian official said.

Gerry Norquist, the Asian Tour's senior vice president, said the two bodies are working towards an agreement over events in India and South Korea on next year's European Tour calendar.

Asian Tour officials had accused their rivals of colonialism after the Europeans sanctioned events on local turf without approval from the regional governing body.

Norquist said the issue was brought up at July's meeting of the International Federation of PGA Tours at Carnoustie.

''The European Tour admitted that they had breached protocol and that was satisfactory to the Asian Tour,'' Norquist told Reuters during the Johor Open in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

''We have been involved in dialogue and all I can say is that we are probably in a better position now than we were then, but we still haven't resolved the issue.'' The Indian Masters is a 2.5 million dollars event slated for February next year while the Korean tournament is scheduled for March in Jeju.

Norquist said the main issue is the number of places to be allocated for players from each tour.

The current nine tournaments sanctioned by both bodies allow for a 50-50 split between European and Asian-based players.

A standard tournament features between 144 and 156 players while the proposed Indian and Korean events are reported to offer only 120 places.

''What it comes down to is field size,'' said Norquist. ''We believe the intended fields in both of these tournaments is 120 players.

''So it becomes a very sticky issue when you try to satisfy everyone in terms of how many spots are given to players in proper proportion.'' Another obstacle for India is that the European Tour has aligned itself with the Indian Golf Union.

However, the Professional Golf Tour of India, which governs pro Indian golfers such as Jeev Milkha Singh, has vowed to boycott the event.

In Korea, world rankings are expected to be a condition for entry, which would affect the number of Asian Tour players in the field.

Norquist said the Asian Tour is powerless to stop the two events from taking place should talks break down altogether.

REUTERS TB BD1028