The following article and images are provided by Kingsley Flett #46727 in collaboration with the PDGA Asia Tour.

The first tournament of the inaugural PDGA Asia Tour was won by Calvin Heimburg in MPO and Chia-Fang Chen in FPO this past weekend in the southern city of Kaohsiung in Chinese Tapei. The event sparks the beginning of the seven stop tour which visits five countries and regions over ten weeks, culminating in the tour championship in Shanghai, China in mid-March.

Results: 2026 Asia Disc Golf Open - PDGA Asia Tour Event #1 >>

Many surprises wait for those travelling to Asia for disc golf. One of those surprises might be the realisation that disc sports in Asia, particularly in the east Asian subregion that includes Japan and Taiwan, has its own deep history that stretches back as far as 1969. Although the PDGA Asia Tour is new, the Asia Open began in Taipei as The Friendship Cup, a competition with neighbouring Japan, in 1999 and was held biannually until 2007. The 2026 Asia Cup was the eighth instalment since 2009 under the current title. Kuan Chen, one of the originators of disc sports in the region, and the promoter of that first friendship cup in 1999, recalls first travelling to Japan to play disc sports in 1984 but first playing object frisbee golf on the island as early as 1983.

ICYMI: Announcing the 2026 PDGA Asia Tour Series >>

This heritage showed in the age of the competitors and the warmth of the greetings as players began assembling at the Sun Yat-sen University, Renwu Campus for pre-tournament practice rounds. These were reunions of friendships that stretched back many years. Disc Golf appears to be on the cusp of a substantial boom in Asia, with its population that is over three times that of the rest of the disc golf playing world, but that doesn’t mean that the sport is a recent trend. On the contrary, Disc Golf here has roots that go deep.

The inclusion of Calvin Heimburg in the field sparked a lot of interest, and if the experience of Philo Brathwaite 2020 and 2024 was any guide, Calvin wouldn’t have it all his own way against local Jacky Chen and a host of other Asian talent such as 2024 winner Manabu Kajiyama from Japan.

Heimburg and Chen stayed within a stroke of each other in the first round. The throw across the ravine to the guarded basket on the 443 foot hole 16 would provide highlights all weekend and Heimburg started the show by throwing past the basket before canning a partially obscured circle two eagle putt to go ahead by one. Chen gained the stroke back on the final hole though and the pair finished together on eight under par, one stroke ahead of locals Terry Tang (son of event TD, Richard Tang) and Nils Julian Loberg. Loberg, an expat based in Kaoshiung, picked up the sport in 2019 and only took out a PDGA membership in 2025 but has quickly developed into a top player.

Round two was where Calvin put his foot down, shooting a provisionally 1071 rated 13-under-par 50, to clear away from Chen by seven strokes. Five of the seven strokes Heimburg gained over Chen were in the final four holes as he shot: birdie, eagle, birdie, eagle, to finish.

Heimburg was asked if he’d figured the course out a little after round one. “No,” he said. “I just threw a little better and avoided bogeys.”

Loberg held on to a share of third place, fifteen strokes off the lead and was joined by one of the travelling USA players who are following the whole tour in Denver’s Joey Bruno, along with Hong Kong’s Tsz Ho Ming.

Jacky Chen was the player to catch fire in the closing holes of the final round. His two eagles in the last three holes included another crowd pleasing shot on hole 16 that threaded its way through a gap in the line of trees on the edge of the ravine before fading back to skirt the guardian tree and slide into bullseye. It was too little too late though. Heimburg kept a six stroke lead at the end to take out his first Asia Open in his first time visiting Asia. Chen was six strokes back in second, with Tsz Ho Ming another twelve strokes back in third, with Joey Bruno another three adrift of Ming in fourth.

Learn More: PDGA Asia Tour >>

The FPO came down to a battle between two long time rivals in locals Chia-Fang Chen and Su Mei Yang. The pair had swapped victories in the last couple of Asia Opens, with Yang winning by 13 strokes in 2020 and Chen turning the tables by 19 strokes in 2024. Both are legends in Asian disc golf. Chen is now considered the best woman player in Asia and Yang, who is over 60, still competes with the best. Yang also happens to be Jacky Chen’s mom.

Chen held a one stroke lead after the first round and then stretched this to four strokes after round two after Yang had a string of bogeys in the middle holes. The gap leading into Championship Sunday could have been larger but for Chen’s double bogey 7 on hole 18 creating a three stroke swing.

Chen admitted after the tournament to have been impacted by nerves in recent times. “Most of the time lately I have not been able to perform,” she said. “But this time I was able to hold it together and perform well. I think this course suited me also, because I am strong on the longer courses.”

Chen’s four stroke lead stayed intact for most of the round, but she admitted afterwards that it wasn’t until a two stroke swing on hole 15 that she felt safe with the lead. Chen was able to stretch the lead over Yang to seven strokes at the finish. In third place was Korea’s Jiwon Kim and another of the Chen family in Jacky Chen’s sister, Chen Chen, in fourth.

As the winners of all divisions were crowned and another successful running of the Asia Open celebrated, there was one person in particular who seemed more relieved than most. Aaron Herman, PDGA Asia Coordinator and PDGA Asia Tour director has been putting this tour together for over a year. The organisation of it has involved many moving parts, crossing national boundaries with different cultures, languages and governing bodies to unite the region behind the common vision of a tour that disc gofers of any ability can set themselves to do. The swell of support for the Asia Open, and the news that other events are selling out fast, showed that this vision now has real momentum.

Next stop on the PDGA Asia Tour, is the Siam Open, held at the Lakewood Country Club in Bangkok, Thailand, from January 20-22. The PDGA Asia Tour is powered by Yikun Discs and presented by Chain Disc Golf.