India plans still bigger role in Asian golf

India plans to capitalise on a growing pool of local talent and the nation's booming economy to play a bigger role in Asian golf, a senior golf official said on Wednesday.

Golf is regarded as the fastest growing sport in India and the country will stage a second major event in the space of a few weeks when the prestigious Johnnie Walker Classic tees off on Thursday.

Indian golf was handed a huge boost at the start of the month when former caddie Shivshankar Chowrasia won the Indian Masters, the first of the European and Asian Tour's two co-sanctioned events on the sub-continent.

Buoyed by that success, the Asian Tour signed an agreement with the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) last week, agreeing to stage future international events within the country jointly with the domestic sanctioning body.

The PGTI tour commissioner Ajai Gupta said the idea was to increase number of events from the present two and provide more Indians the opportunities to face tougher competition.

"Our goal is to have at least four or six more events by 2010," Gupta told Reuters.

"We want to continue to progress by developing new infrastructure and upgrading courses."

India also introduced a second Asian Tour event last week with the sponsorship tied up for three years.

Gupta said more championship courses and driving ranges were being constructed which would cater to youngsters who are increasingly looking at golf as a career option.

"Most big courses now are around Delhi but some are being built in other places like Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad."

The performances of Jeev Milkha Singh and Arjun Atwal, both winners on the European Tour and Jyoti Randhawa, India's top ranked player and a regular on that tour, are encouraging young players to show more ambition in the game.

"Chowrasia's win has made the world realise the talent we have," Gupta said. "Now people feel golf can be a career option and they don't really have to be rich."

Randhawa said staging big events that drew players like South African world number four Ernie Els, Australian world number five Adam Scott, Fiji's Vijay Singh and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie would further boost Indian golf.

"Indian golfers are doing well and golf is getting into a boom," he said.

"To have two joint sanctioned events with Europe here this month alone, and with the stars coming here, it gives it that much more importance.

"We've had one winner at the Indian Masters and if we have another here, it will show that Indian golf has come of age.

"We are not a golfing country but in the last 10, 15 years, we are on the world map and Indians are starting to win."

February 27, 2008