The Els Club Desaru Coast will be hosting the 1st leg of the 3-legged ASEAN Tourism Golf Tournament on 16 & 17 February 2020 to boost Visit Johor Year 2020. On 1st December 2019, The ASEAN Tourism Golf Tournament 2020 was officially launched at Phuket Golf & Country Club and attended by about 200 guests which include golf clubs GMs, hotels, and tour operators from Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, and the Thai media.

The event is organized by Johor Golf Tourism Association, an independent member-based association that provides support to all the golf fraternities in promoting Johor as the ultimate golf destination and experience.

The first leg of the ASEAN Tourism Golf Tournament will be hosted in Johor at one of the most renowned and prestigious golf courses designed by the former World No 1, “The Big Easy” South African, Ernie Els, The Els Club Desaru Coast - Ocean Course and Vijay Singh’s The Els Club Desaru Coast - Valley Course.

The second leg is scheduled to be held in June at the Phuket Golf Country Club and Loch Palm Golf Club in Phuket, Thailand. The third leg will be held in September at Club Golf Bogor Raya and Rainbow Hill Golf Club in Bogor, Indonesia. The final round and closing ceremony will be held on 5 and 6 December 2020 at the Mahkota Golf & Country Club and Lanjut Beach & Golf Resort in Pahang.

One of the main objectives of the ASEAN Tourism Golf Tournament is to enhance and promote ASEAN as a highly competitive regional golf destination in the Asia Pacific to leverage the many amazing golf courses available in this region namely in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, and many others.

Additionally, it is also to encourage intra-ASEAN golf travels and strengthening ASEAN's golf tourism industry, broadening the cooperation in golf tourism among the ASEAN Member States to enable traveling into and within ASEAN much easier and more efficient.

As part of the grand launching of the ASEAN Tourism Golf Tournament 2020, a mini-golf tournament was held at the Phuket Golf Country Club that saw a total of 52 golfers representing Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia participating in it.