New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) Newly-appointed CEO of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) Amandeep Singh Johl, whose experience in golf stretches decades, believes India has a huge potential in the sport and claimed that with the correct backing, ‘sky’s the limit’ for Golf in the country.
In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Amandeep spoke on his vision for the sport, India potentially hosting the 2036 Olympics, and how he plans on making his tenure a success. Excerpts:
Q. Being a former golfer yourself, what is going to be your main focus as CEO of the PGTI?
AJ: It’s really a big honour to take over from Uttam Singh Mundi, who is still CEO till the 31st of December. I’ll be taking over on the 1st of January. But the board and our president, Kapil Dev, have reposed faith in me. Hopefully, I’ll be able to deliver. At the end of the day, the idea is to create more playing opportunities for our members, better playing conditions, and obviously more prize money. Mundi, Kapil, and the entire board, we’ve tried and put together a good schedule for the first half. We are trying to go to bigger, you know, better tournaments, better golf courses, and different venues. You know, we may have a few different venues, and a few new sponsors.
We have another tournament at Delhi Golf Club coming up in December, which is the Vishwa Samudra Open. That is our first tournament that is happening. It’s being put together by our board member, Shashidhar, from the Vishwa Samudra group. When we start in January, I think we have a very big entry list for the qualifying school. A lot of people from out of India are going to be coming, which speaks volumes of the growth and the stature of PGTI now.
We are in partnership with the DP World and the PGA Tour so that itself is a big plus. We’ve got world ranking points. So all in all, I think the health of professional golf in India is becoming better, and with Kapil Dev putting his weight behind the PGTI, I think the sky is the limit.
Q. India has confirmed their interest in hosting the 2036 Olympics. What sort of impact will that have on golf?
AJ: Golf has huge potential in India because we are playing for the individual medal as well as the team medal in men’s and women’s. India is qualified for the Olympics but yes infrastructure needs to develop. We need world-class golf courses and we should be going to cities to get land from the state governments and build infrastructure there and I think the growth of the game is going to happen there. Build world-class infrastructure as far as golf courses. Do private people partnership. You know, their state associations can be given land.
And I think if we can broad-base the game for the next 10, 12 years, talent, there is so much talent in this country. Whether it’s the girls or the boys, there is no dearth. So hundreds and thousands of juniors are picking up the game. And from all walks of life, you know, from a cross-section of society are playing golf, taking up the game because they feel that this is an individual sport and, you know, there’s no team selection in this. You shoot the scores and you are rated as per the scores that you shoot. I feel that we have a great chance to produce medals and if golf is an Olympic sport by the 2036 Games, I think we can look at medals playing in India.”
Q. In a previous conversation with IANS, you had talked about the need for the government to invest in infrastructure. Now that you’re the CEO of the premier golfing tour in the country, how are you going to help develop the sport in the country?
AJ: Golf is my life. So it’s always my endeavour to grow this wonderful game. Infrastructure is something that is hugely lacking. The Ministry of Tourism has come up with a huge policy where if they can tie up with some state governments, they will provide a lot of funding for making golf courses. So it will always be my endeavour to go to state governments.
I had a meeting with the Deputy CM of Chhattisgarh. He sounded very positive about promoting a golf tournament there in New Raipur. And, you know, states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and all these states can bring in golf courses. I think that is where we feel that the growth of the game is going to be. I met the sports secretary as well, Mrs. Sujata Chaturvedi a few days ago, and she said, ‘I want to broad-base this game of golf. It should be accessible to everybody. So whoever wants to play this game should be able to play’. And she said whatever support the government of India can give, we will give. And if that kind of attitude of the government. We are in a phase where the government is very forward-thinking government. Our honourable Prime Minister is a very forward-thinking Prime Minister. So if we have the support of the government of today, I think golf can go sky’s the limit.”
Q. What would need to happen for you to call your tenure as CEO a success?
AJ: Last year we played for about Rs 24.5 crore worth of prize money. Prize money is where I’m going to be judged you know if I can create more prize money opportunities for my players I’m going to be judged on that. I feel that we can be much bigger so if I can take it to about Rs 50 crore in the next couple of years that would be something that I feel would be a feather in my cap but I’m going to try very hard.
The second thing that I’d like to do is I would like to look at a corporation that has not supported golf yet. They need to understand how big the potential of this sport is it’s a working mammoth. It is a place where you can meet and talk on the golf course. You meet all kinds of people from all walks of life, whether Indian businessmen or international businessmen. It is the place to meet. So I want to sell that idea to the big corporations in this country who have not taken up this game, the Adani’s of the world. So that will be my endeavor. I’m going to try very hard and hopefully, I’ll succeed.”
–IANS
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