Home improvement

In the next few days, the Professional Golfer's Association of India (PGAI) will announce the dates of the new season for 2004-05.

Actually, it is already long overdue because the season generally begins with a string of events in the south, with Chennai and Bangalore as the main stops.

The delay is partly due to the fact that the five-year contract between the PGAI and the promoters, Tiger Sports Marketing, ran out at the end of the 2003-04 season. Even as details of a new contract are being thrashed out, a lot of time has already elapsed.

This could prove costly to both the PGAI, whose members are the players, and the promoters, who would need time to find new sponsors or renew contracts with old ones.

The southern swing is due to start in about two weeks. Besides, adding problems for the promoters, the players will hardly get time to prepare for the southern tour.

Frankly, all these problems will look small as the season progresses and the promoters will try to achieve the target of putting together a total purse of Rs 3.05 crore, the new target for 2004-05.

According to information available, the commitment will have to show an increment of 15 per cent every successive year.

So far, the highest target for prize money has been Rs 2.4 crore, and barring the 2003-04 season, Tiger Sports have managed to meet their targets. But at the same time, it needs to bear in mind that the total purse has never gone beyond Rs 2.5 crore.

As the targets get steeper each year, three key areas will need to be addressed immediately: the drawing up of a calendar to allow every party to plan their schedules ahead; the participation of top players in good number of PGAI events to make it worthwhile for sponsors to participate; and finally the commitment of the pros to play the pro-ams before or after the event.

All three are interlinked.

A sponsor who comes in for a tournament knows that an event carrying a purse of Rs 10 lakh costs as much Rs 19-20 lakh, considering the fee they have to pay for usage of a golf course (about Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh), capitation fee to PGAI (13 per cent of the prize purse), management fee to promoters (about Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh), plus other costs like organising pro-am tournaments, decorations and refreshments.

In return, a sponsor expects a quality field and the players' cooperation at the pro-am, which gives the sponsor a chance to network with other influential people and leading professionals. Top pros like Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal or Jeev Milkha Singh and other pros like Arjun Singh, Harmeet Kahlon, Amandeep Johl and Rahil Gangjee need to play more on the Asian Tour.

In their absence, a field looks somewhat depleted. At the same time, it is understandable that these players, given half a chance, would opt for higher prize purses on foreign soil. So, how does one ensure a quality field to attract sponsors, improve domestic tours and take care of the players' interests?

For starters, one needs to organise as many tournaments as possible at a time when no major tours are being played. The schedule can be fixed in advance so that the sponsors know the names of the leading players taking part. A fixed schedule with commitment from at least some leading players would be the first step.

In Thailand, many of the domestic pro events are held in the period when the Asian Tour and other Tours take a break. A few Indians like Feroze Ali regularly play in Thailand or Malaysia.

Another way to ensure a better field would be to get the leading players to commit themselves to at least three to four events in India each season. A carrot in the form of an appearance fee could be used to entice players to participate.

Players like Ernie Els and Retief Goosen play in their domestic tour in South Africa while Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby and even the legendary Greg Norman play some events on the Australasian Tour. The same goes for the likes of Thongchai Jaidee, Thaworn Wiratchant, Boonchu Ruangkit and Chawlit Plaphol who all play in their domestic circuits.

In addition, the PGA should take into account a player's performance not only in the internationals, but also a select few Indian events while choosing Indian teams for events like the World Cup.

That apart, many Indian pros in the recent past have been known to skip pro-am and rush off after the main pro event. This gives the sponsor a feeling of being cheated. Sure, the pro's fee for a pro-am, anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 is small but the players need to understand that they need to give something back to the sponsor who has chipped in something like Rs 18 lakh-Rs 20 lakh.

In the US, a player skipping the pro-am (usually before the main pro event) is not allowed to play the main event and his spot goes to the next eligible player on the waiting list.

At least, stricter rules would take care of sponsors' interest which in turn translates into more events and prize money. It is a chain, and one broken link could throw the entire process into disarray. The current target for the promoters is Rs 3.05 crore, which means at least 30 events with each of them putting up at least Rs 10 lakh.

The ideal would about 16-18 events with Rs 10 lakh each, about three with purses of Rs 15 lakh and three with purses of Rs 25 lakh-Rs 28 lakh. An ideal number of tournaments would be about 25.

Indian professional golf has a long way to go before achieving the status golf has in Japan or Korea "" not to speak of Europe, Australia, South Africa or America. The prime requisite is a stronger domestic tour to produce more and better golfers. And for that to happen, it is imperative for all the parties to come together and take it forward.