Kyi Hla Han, former Asian Tour executive who elevated the status of golf in the region, is dead at 61

Former Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han (chee la haan), a beloved figure in Asian golf who tried to mold the Asian Tour in the likeness of the PGA Tour, died on Feb. 19. He was 61.

The Asian Tour said that he died in Singapore due to complications from cancer treatment. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

“Asian golf has lost one of its greatest players, its greatest personalities, and its greatest leaders,” said current commissioner & chief executive Cho Minn Thant.

Han, who was profiled in Golfweek in 2007, was the bridge from the Asian Tour’s humble beginnings and hardships to its ascent in the world-golf pecking order.

Han was born in Burma, known today as Myanmar, the son of a diplomat who was transferred to the United States as a military attaché when Han was 2. Soon he joined his three brothers and father on the golf course, developing his interlocking grip after reading Jack Nicklaus’ “Golf My Way.”

Han’s family moved to Manila in the early 1970s when he was 9. The next year, he says he won 11 titles in a row against players four years older, stoking his dream of playing the PGA Tour someday. Han represented Burma in the 1980 World Cup in Bogota, Colombia. He turned pro when he checked in for the event, which earned him exempt status onto the old Asian circuit, and promptly collected a check for $3,000. Han won 12 tournaments, including the 1994 Singapore Open and 1999 Volvo China Open.

Han was nicknamed the “Asian Ian Woosnam” as much for the physical resemblance – short and powerful – as for his booming drives. Recalls Iain Steel, an Asian Tour member born in Malaysia: “Growing up, Kyi Hla was ‘the man’ in Asia, the guy we looked up to, the name every golfer knew.”

Han was a trailblazer, one of the first Asians to travel overseas and compete. He averaged 35 events per year, playing in Asia from February to April; in Europe from May to September; and in Australia from October to January.

When Han won the 1999 Volvo China Open, his father walked all four rounds with him. That season, Han won $204,211 and the tour’s Order of Merit.

It earned him exemptions into the 2000 World Golf Championships–American Express Championship in Spain and the British Open at St. Andrews. A picture of Han standing by the Swilcan Bridge adorned his office wall for years. He missed the cut, but it hardly matters now.

“I told our photographer ‘Get right behind me. . . . That’s the shot I want,’ ” says Han of his precious moment captured in time.

Madasamy Murugiah (second left) with Kyi Hla Han (center) and other Handa Singapore Classic partners, Pan Pacific’s Frederic Jenni (left), SGA’s Andrew Kwa (second right) and OCC’s Dominic Ang (right).

Known for his sunny disposition, an infectious joie de vivre and constant chatter, Han acted as if everybody is his friend. He attended an American school and said his English is better than his Burmese, a skill that enabled him to become a de facto spokesman for Asian players.

Han tried PGA Tour Q-School seven times but never made it through. After retiring from competitive golf in 2004, Han joined the circuit as commissioner. In 2006, he became the first Asian executive chairman of the Tour and stepped down in 2016.

During his tenure, he helped promote events like the Singapore Open into an event that drew marquee players, the HSBC Champions as a World Golf Championships event beginning in 2009 and the CIMB Classic became the circuit’s first co-sanctioned event with the PGA Tour.

To honor him, the Asian Tour will create a Kyi Hla Han Future Champion Award to aid the development of juniors and golf in Asia.