The Johor Open ended on Sunday with Filipino-Japanese Artemio Murakami claiming a maiden Asian Tour title with a one-stroke victory over compatriot Tony Lascuna and Scotland’s Simon Yates.
However, despite being there as a stringer for Reuters, I didn’t write a line about the tournament. My aim was to interview Kyi Hla Han, executive chairman of the Asian Tour, about their dispute with the European Tour over the sanctioning of tournaments in India and Korea next year.
As it turned out, Kyi Hla was late in trying to make our 1.30pm appointment on Sunday because he was stuck in immigration while crossing the border at nearby Singapore.
I couldn’t wait because I had to return home to Kuala Lumpur, some 320 kilometres away. I was about to leave when the Asian Tour media officer Shenton Gomez set me up for an interview with Kyi Hla’s deputy, Gerry Norquist.
Gerry was great and spoke eloquently. However, I was disappointed not to have interviewed Kyi Hla because there was more than just the European Tour controversy to talk about.
The fact that the tournament was played at the Royal Johor Country Club was significant because it was where Kyi Hla, a Myanmar (Burma) native, used to hone his skills as a youngster alongside none other than former US Masters winner Vijay Singh.
The two are good friends and almost two decades ago, they were both trying to make it as professionals. And the Johor club was where they were based.
As we all now know, Fijian Singh has gone on to become one of the best players in the world. Kyi Hla progressed into a solid pro on the Asian tours and was the Order of Merit winner in 1999.
Now, he has swapped his clubs for a desk as he tries to make Asia a better place for the next generation of regional professional golfers.
Still, Gerry had some good things to say about Asia’s problems with Europe, who have organised those tournaments without approval from the Asian Tour.
Asia feels it amounts to golfing colonialism and Gerry said he is hoping the issue will be resolved. I filed the story for Reuters and they released the article on Monday.
