South African star Ernie Els has said something that the Asian Tour better be wary about.
While taking part in the inaugural Indian Masters in Delhi, Els said in an AFP article that India has the advantage over their fellow massively populated and hence lucratively poised rivals China when it comes to golf.
Asian Tour chief Kyi Hla Han probably didn’t realise what he was saying when he reacted to Els’ comments with high hopes of fulfillment, having been quoted in the AFP article as saying:
“With the economy going the way it is over here, there’s a lot of huge property development, a huge growing middle class, so I can see a lot more golf events being played here and I’m sure big players will follow.â€
Indeed, the economies of India and China are going at such a great speed that the formerly aristocratic pursuit of golf is likely to boom as well among the proletariat.
Is that good for the Asian Tour? Maybe it seems like it now.
But the Big Easy talking about India versus China may merely be a red herring in what could actually transpire.
It may come to a stage when there is so much money coming into the golfing infrastructures of both countries that their golf administrators may one day suddenly sit up and think: “Hey, we don’t actually NEED the Asian Tour, do we?â€
China already has a thriving domestic tour. Chinese golfers get to play on a regular basis for prize money. Being on the Asian Tour, they would be regularly snubbed by big-money co-sanctioned tournaments that really do nothing for the development of domestic players.
They seem to be very happy on their own thank you very much.
And what happened with the Indian Masters should not be forgotten, either.
Remember, it was the European Tour that came along and plonked down this tournament smack bang in the middle of Asian Tour turf without permission and with impunity.
The fact that an agreement was finally reached between the two sanctioning bodies said more about the Asian Tour’s desperation to appear in control of their own territory rather than any hastiness on the Europeans to appease the Asians.
So, good old Ernie … his words should be taken at face value, but there are undercurrents that may have grave concerns for the Asian Tour in the future.
