Dropouts and the gaping hole in between
In its seventh year, the PGTI has hit a rough patch, with a few tournaments getting shelved and the money depleting
The birth of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), seven years ago almost to this day, came with its share of pangs. The usual. The previous organization (Professional Golfers’ Association of India) wasn’t keen on relinquishing authority over its constituency. The marketing company (Tiger Sports Marketing), entrusted with selling professional golf in India, claimed that they had put their best foot forward.
Accusations flew around, strong words were exchanged. There was bad blood.
Fortunately for the Indian professional golfers, majority of whom rooted for the change, along came a man with a golden gun who unseated the firmly entrenched, took charge and now even bankrolls a substantial portion of the operation. Like Scaramanga, an elusive, reclusive man, but unlike him, not sinister. “His heart is in the right place,” is a common refrain on the Indian tour. You would think so if you consider the money Gautam Thapar has pumped into professional golf since he moved in behind the scenes. What about the head? A question there if you were also to take into account his ROI (return on investment) which, as a successful businessman, he himself must be tempted to do at times.
Thapar did finally take a cold hard look at the returns column and the casualty is an extravaganza called Avantha Masters (2010-2013). Sure, the rupee has taken a dive but I’m still surprised it took him four years to pull the plug. The intentions were right. Put Indian golf on the world map. Get our players to play and interact with some of the top talent.
But the big guns from Europe didn’t turn up, choosing to play the “desert swing” of the European Tour in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai, and then surfacing again in Malaysia. Whispers of appearance money (or the reluctance to pay it) do the rounds and that, like it or not, is a factor outside Europe and the US, where prize money purses are smaller. So with due respect to our Asian and home golfers, the role of creating a buzz in the third and the fourth editions of the Avantha fell on John Daly and Colin Montgomerie, respectively, middle-aged men of questionable demeanour whose golfing careers were running out of gas. As expected, the fizz was missing, and spending close to €2 million (around ₹ 17 crore) in prize money and possibly as much more in paraphernalia didn’t make sense.
Come 2014, Avantha is not the only event opting out. After their three-year deal came to an end this year, The Gujarat Kensville Challenge will not be a part of Europe’s second-rung tour. Backed by real estate developers Savvy Group, who have put together a golf-centric project outside Ahmedabad, also the venue, I somehow feel that they are breathing easier. In both cases, the promoters have spoken about coming back bigger and better. We can only wait and watch.
There is another possible dampener. Apparently, the $300,000 (around ₹ 1.89 crore) Panasonic Open, which is part of the Asian Tour, is off the schedule. If that happens, it will cut down full-field international tournaments in India from five to just two next year, these being the evergreen Hero Indian Open and the SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd)-SBI (State Bank of India) Open, both part of the Asian Tour. With their substantial purses, these foreign currency events, which are added to the kitty of the host country, make the domestic tour look bountiful.
Irrespective of these dropouts, the PGTI is not looking good. Let’s take this year’s schedule as a suitable example. The domestic season teed off in February with two limited field-team events that have been brought on board by golf event management companies. The first big money event comes as late as the last week of October in the shape of the ₹ 1-crore BILT (Ballarpur Industries Ltd) Open, followed by the CG (Crompton Greaves) Open, which carries the same purse. Yes, you guessed right. Both these companies operate under the Avantha banner.
The ₹ 1-crore DLF Masters, next in line after CG, is not going to happen this year because DLF have dug up their old course and are making a new one. The season ends with the ₹ 1.35-crore McLeod Russel Tour Championship in the last week of the year. The gaping hole from February to October is plugged by the PGTI themselves with seven Players Championships, worth a total of ₹ 2 crore. This money has come their way through tour partners Rolex and Volvo, brands that are committed to golf worldwide.
So, non-Avantha sponsors can almost be counted on one hand. The bottom line is sponsors are not getting their worth. Coverage of PGTI events in the national dailies is non-existent. There is a TV tie-up with tour partner Ten Golf (Who? Where?). The players need to play their part as PGTI brand ambassadors. A starting point could be corporate interactions like pro-ams. Surely, language is no barrier when it comes to golf. Given our demographics, English is not par for the course. A handshake on the first tee and then again on the 18th green will not enthuse a potential sponsor. The established names need to make time for their tour. In a way, the shutting down of some big-money events presents the PGTI with an opportunity to work on the basics.
As things stand today, if Thapar, the PGTI president, decides to cut off funding from the Avantha Group, the tour will hit turbulence. The PGTI, like professional golf tours around the world, is a players’ body with an executive board but the similarity ends just about there. The PGA Tour, for instance, earmarks millions of dollars each year for various charities but before they do that, they attract well over $200 million in prize money through their selling and marketing skills. In India, the situation is reverse. Any company that puts money into golf does so more out of philanthropy because the boss is a golfer. That just won’t do if the PGTI is to live up to the expectations kindled seven years ago.
Prabhdev Singh is the founding editor of Golf Digest India and a part-time golfer.
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First Published:3 Oct 2013, 11:05 AM IST
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