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Kapil Dev predicts great future for Indian golf

Kapil Dev, the cricket legend-turned-golf enthusiast, believes India will enjoy a golf revolution that could change the landscape of the professional game in Asia.

With great champions constantly emerging from the sub-continent and new events such as next month's Aamby Valley Asian Masters being launched, Dev predicted India may well be the new force in the region – in terms of the number of events staged on the Asian Tour and the quality of talent that it produces.

His sentiments are echoed by India's leading stalwarts Jeev Milkha Singh, the current Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit leader, and the experienced Amandeep Johl.

In their opinion, the pool of untapped talent is so great in India and if properly nurtured, the budding youngsters will emulate the success of Arjun Atwal, Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur on the international front.

Dev's passion for golf is exemplary. As a Board Member of the Asian Tour, he lobbies for the professional game unreservedly and says that new tournaments like the Aamby Valley Asian Masters from May 11-14 will be the launchpad for many of India's rising stars.

More importantly, it also shows that corporate India is capable of creating new events, said Dev.

“Indian golfers are already making headlines over the past three to five years and events such as the Aamby Valley Asian Masters are indeed a positive step forward for Indian golf,” said Dev, famous for leading India to their first World Cup success in 1983.

“Events like this serve as a platform as you don’t know you have the talent unless you try, and once people try, only then will they know that they are good enough. Tournaments like the Aamby Valley Asian Masters will help churn out the skillful and the talented."

Asian Tour Chief Executive Louis Martin said India, which presently hosts two Tour events, the other being the Hero Honda Indian Open, is the sleeping giant in world golf. "The strength of the Indian economy is growing and as a result, we have been privileged to welcome the Aamby Valley Asian Masters onto our Schedule next month.

"India has a strong domestic circuit which provides the foundation for growth. The elite players have stamped their mark on the Asian Tour but there is a need to grow more events here and the signs are encouraging. We believe Aamby Valley will be the start of several more new events in India," said Martin.

Dev stressed that more must be done at the grassroot level despite India's continued supply of talented players. In recent times, Kapur won the Asian Tour's season-ending Volvo Masters of Asia in Thailand last December while Singh ended a lean seven-year title drought with victory at the co-sanctioned Volvo China Open recently, making him only the second Indian after Atwal to win on the European Tour. Atwal and Randhawa have also won the Asian Tour Order of Merit titles previously.

“In reaching out to the young and boosting their interest, India should create more driving ranges and golf courses so that the kids can play the game. India and China are emerging in every sense and there is a need to improve sports. China has given a lot to sports and India should do the same and develop other sports such as golf. I hold golf close to my heart. Indians in general enjoy their cricket but it is high time to promote golf.”

Johl, the chairman of the Asian Tour’s Tournament Players Committee, also expressed optimism towards a brighter future for Indian golf. “We are trying our best to get the Indian subcontinent off the ground and obviously, the Indian economy is doing well and it should show how much golf it can support. When you look around the world, if the economy of one country is doing well, golf is doing well,” said Johl.

“We are very excited about Aamby Valley. It has an international-class setting and the course is superb and our players will look forward to it. If you look at our domestic Tour, you will see that our young players are mad about golf. More youngsters are practising hard,” said Johl, a former national champion.

While China has been under the spotlight with the number of tournaments growing – it will host up to six Asian Tour events this year, Johl said that India's future lies with the sponsorship dollars from within the nation.

“India is different than China, where most tournaments sponsored in China are multi-nationals. In India, our events are locally sponsored thus there is support for the game and that's how it can grow,” he said.

While cricket continues to dominate in India, Singh reckons golf will gain ground on the former and be nearly up to par eventually. "I think it'll take a few years. Cricket is a religion in our country and golf is our number two sport," said Singh.

"We've got some young kids coming up and we've got Arjun, Jyoti and now we have Shiv and Rahil Gangjee who have great potential. If we all keep performing well, golf will become bigger in our country. I don't think it'll be as big as cricket but if it gets closer, we'll be happy."

April 27, 2006