| "Why don't the top Indian stars like Arjun Atwal, Jyoti Randhawa or Jeev Milkha play on the Indian Tour?" |
| He was quite right in his observation. But what he didn't notice was that even the next rung of players like Arjun Singh, Amandeep Johl, Harmeet Kahlon, Vijay Kumar and so on are spending less and less time on the Indian Tour. |
| Then there are others like Digvijay Singh, Gaurav Ghei, Uttam Singh Mundy, Amritinder Singh, and Vivek Bhandari who are always trying to get into as many Asian PGA events as possible, leaving them with few weeks to play in India. As the number of good golfers increases, more and more players will venture out to the next level of the game. |
| This year we also saw Mukesh Kumar and Feroz Ali, two of the most successful domestic golfers in India, play a few events on Asian PGA. |
| This year Mukesh and Feroz along with a bunch of youngsters starting from Ashok Kumar, Rahil Gangjee, Rahul Ganapathy and others will also attempt to grow beyond the Indian Tour. |
| Coming back to my friend's question, is it not unfair on the Indian Tour? Not really. For the aim of any tour is to give players wings and then allow them to fly away to newer lands. Just as it is in every facet of life. |
| Parents give their children so many opportunities and when they become successful, they move in life and move to places further and further away. This does not take anything away from either. It is simply a process of growing. |
| The lack of top stars is not a phenomenon unique to the Indian golf tour. It happens in all sports and all countries across the globe. |
| A Viswanathan Anand becomes a world star and hardly plays in India; Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi ply their skills at the highest levels in world tennis; and a cricketer like Virender Sehwag signs up to play in the more lucrative English county cricket. |
| Even tours like the Asian PGA, European PGA and Ladies PGA are losing top stars. APGA stars play on bigger tours in Europe and Japan, and the Europe's big stars move towards the biggest tour, the US PGA. |
| So, an Atwal moves from Indian to Asian to European and finally US PGA Tour. Randhawa and Jeev play in Japan and others, while waiting for their next big break tee off in Asia. |
| This does not mean an Indian Tour has no worth. It is simply a case of creating more avenues for the fresh crop of golfers. The Asian PGA last week opened its new academy in Malaysia and this will give the upcoming golfers of the region a chance to raise their skill levels. |
| In India, I have often been hearing how Indian golfers do not take time out for the tour that built them. But what the same people miss out is that in India, these boys will be playing for a few lakhs, while in Asia it is thousands of dollars and the prize money in Europe and US runs into millions of dollars. |
| Sure, the sponsors would love to see the big names in their events, but organisers and sponsors elsewhere in the world have found a way out "" pay appearance fee and get marquee names. |
| The co-sanctioned events in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong always keep aside sizeable budgets to get big names. |
| Malaysia and Singapore events, which were held back to back in 2001, put together a package for World's No 2 player Vijay Singh to come for the events. The result was fantastic "" big crowds, excellent golf from Vijay, who won both events, and the cash registers were making pleasant sounds. |
| In Korea, one of the sponsors agreed to a "substantial" figure to entice K J Choi and recently Se Ri Pak was brought in for a Korean domestic tour event. |
| Professional players aim to make a living from what they do best "" that is play golf. And they like all professionals will head where the payouts are the biggest. It is for prospective employers "" that's what PGA is like "" to make things attractive. Meanwhile build on what has already been created and take the sport to the next level. |
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