Nicolas Colsaerts is one of the top European Tour's stars who have accepted the invitation to become honorary members of the All Thailand Golf Tour (ATGT), which will be offering more than 30 million baht in prize monies this year.
The tour yesterday announced its 2017 schedule with 10 tournaments and a total of 30,180,000 million baht (27.9 million baht for men's events and 2.28 million baht for women's events) in prize monies initially confirmed for this year's roster.
A new tournament "Phuket Open" has been added to its 2017 calendar, while two more events -- Boonchu Ruangkit Championship and Thongchai Jaidee Foundation -- are expected to be confirmed later this year.
Danthai Boonma won the season opening Singha-Esan Open in Khon Kaen last month. He also claimed the tour's finale in Nakhon Ratchasima in December.
Tour's commissioner Jakraphong Thongyai said the tour, since its establishment in 1999, has enjoyed growth in terms of both number of events and participants.
"Many of the world's leading golfers have accepted our invitations to become the tour's honorary members. This shows that the tour is now more recognised internationally."
The other players who have agreed to become the tour's honorary members include Finland's Mikko Illonen and Mikko Korhonen, Germany's Marcel Siem and Denmark's Thobjorn Olesen. They are joined by four Thai veterans -- Boonchu Ruangkit, Thongchai Jaidee, Prayad Marksaeng and Thaworn Wiratchant.
The 34-year-old Colsaerts said he agreed to become an honorary member because he appreciated what the tour has done for the development of young players.
"I am a big supporter of the All Thailand Golf Tour because it is a good tour for all the young professionals," said the two-time European Tour winner, who played on the tour in 2015. "There are lots of Thai players on the Asian Tour now because of tours like the All Thailand Golf Tour."
The tour's awards were also handed out yesterday. Thongchai received the Achievement Award in recognition of his stellar career, during which the 47-year-old from Lop Buri has won eight European and 13 Asian Tour titles.
Prayad, 51, took the 2016 Player of the Year Award. The 2016 Order of Merit winner was Udorn Duangdecha, while Saranporn Langkulgazettrin took home the women's honour. The Rookie of the Year Award went to Chanachok Dejpratanamongkol.