| Year: | 1981 |
| Tour: | Asia Golf Circuit |
| Regular Season: | – |
| No Of Events: | 10 |
| Most Wins: |  Chen Tze-ming (2) Tom Sieckmann (2) Payne Stewart (2) |
| Honor1: | Order of Merit |
| Honoree1: | Lu Hsi-chuen |
| Prevseason: | 1980 |
| Nextseason: | 1982 |
The 1981 Asia Golf Circuit was the 20th season of the Asia Golf Circuit (formerly the Far East Circuit), the main professional golf tour in Asia since it was established in 1961.
In 1978, Papua New Guinea had joined the Asian Golf Confederation with the intention of adding a tournament to the circuit in 1980.[1] [2] These plans were postponed and the tournament was then provisionally scheduled to start the 1981 season,[3] but Papua New Guinea withdrew from the circuit later in the year.[4]
After several years of the Indian Open clashing with the Malaysian Dunlop Masters, the Malaysian Golf Association managed to get the organisers, Dunlop Malaysia, to agree to reschedule their event.[5] However, the organisers of the Rolex Masters in Singapore controversially then organised their tournament for the same dates.[6]
The following table lists official events during the 1981 season.[7] [8]
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse (US$) | Winner | Other tours | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Feb | Philippines | 150,000 | Tom Sieckmann (1) | ||||
| 1 Mar | Hong Kong | 120,000 | Chen Tze-ming (2) | ||||
| 8 Mar | Thailand | 60,000 | Tom Sieckmann (2) | ||||
| 15 Mar | India | 60,000 | Payne Stewart (1) | ||||
| 22 Mar | Malaysia | 70,000 | Lu Hsi-chuen (7) | ||||
| 29 Mar | Singapore | 70,000 | Mya Aye (2) | ||||
| 5 Apr | Indonesia | 60,000 | Payne Stewart (2) | ||||
| 12 Apr | Taiwan | 100,000 | Ho Ming-chung (3) | ||||
| 19 Apr | South Korea | 70,000 | Chen Tze-ming (3) | ||||
| 26 Apr | Japan | ¥30,000,000 |  Kosaku Shimada (1) |
The Order of Merit was based on tournament results during the season, calculated using a points-based system.[9]
| Position | Player | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 713 | ||
| 2 | 697 | ||
| 3 | 690 | ||
| 4 | 675 | ||
| 5 | 627 |