The 2007 PGTI season has started with a bang. The BILT Open 2007 concludes this week and tournaments on the PGTI Tour do not get any better than this. Held at one of the leading golf courses of the country ? the Greg Norman designed Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida ? from the richest winner?s cheque and the beautiful trophy on offer to catering to the little things, BILT is undoubtedly one of the best sponsors of the game this country has ever seen.
However, we have a long way to go as far as the domestic tour is concerned. Corporate houses involved in the game need to look at sponsoring professional golf. There is no dearth of sponsors in the country but the profits get divided between professional and corporate events. This is quite surprising because the 72-hole strokeplay format allows for excellent corporate outings with the Pro-Am designed specially for this purpose. On the PGA Tour they have two Pro-Am?s ? on Tuesday and Wednesday so that the players can make some extra money if they want and the sponsors can accommodate more amateurs. Even the Asian Tour now has two Pro-Am?s if the sponsor requests it. And on the PGA Tour amateur golfers actually pay to play with professional golfers.
The USPGA Tour is a case in point ? they have unlimited sponsors, million dollar purses, courtesy cars and almost everything else a player needs. The PGA Tour is the richest in the world and statistics predict that even if all their sponsors pulled out today, they would still be able to run the tour for the next ten years! The PGA Tour not only has sponsors, they have tie-ups with banks and investment companies ? they are also listed on the stock exchange. The players, alongwith the tour as well as on their own, are involved in charities. While cricket is the religion here and golf is not even a poor second, the latter does have the visibility and profile required for charity, which in turn is an ideal way to get further recognised by the masses. Secondly, even though Indian professionals are doing well the world over, they do need local recognition. They need to be involved in activities that will help non-golfers relate to them. The PGTI Tour did have a fashion show last year so why not do something good for the society as well?
The possibilities are endless and hopefully with the right people and the correct backing it should not take too long.
