Even as Indian golf was celebrating Jyoti Randhawa’s breaking into the top 100 of the world rankings, a silent but significant coup has been carried out in the Asian golf circles with military-like precision and authority.Unhappy with the functioning and the way the Asian PGA Tour was handled by the Asian Tour Limited, a motley group of players have formed a separate faction called the Asian Tour (Tournament Player) Division Private Limited.And the first set of five self-appointed directors, including India’s Amandeep Johl, have already got the popular mandate with the Asian players as well as those who matter in the European PGA and the Japanese Tour.‘‘The Asian PGA was formed in 1995 and we had 25 tournaments in the first year. Last year the tally was just 17 and a major chunk of it was the jointly-sanctioned events. We were moving a step back instead of going ahead.‘‘Now if players from the Asian region don’t get the exposure, how will the game grow?’’ Johl said, speaking to the The Indian Express.A case in point is the dearth of a second string of Indian golfers after the initial batch of Jeev Milkha Singh, Johl himself, Jyoti Randhawa, Arjun Atwal, Gaurav Ghei and to some extent Harmeet Kahlon. And any doubts about the acceptability for the such an arrangement can be laid to rest considering the first two events of the current season — the Thailand Open and the Johnie Walker Classic — were conducted under the supervision of this new group.‘‘The sponsors for every event, even of those to be held in future, have already expressed their full support. And we still are in the process of finalising the administrative set-up,’’ added Johl, suggesting the head office for the new company will be based most probably in Singapore.Reacting to the new development, man currently in the spotlight, Randhawa said, ‘‘I think anything that benefits the players is certainly good and needs to be supported.’’The sentiment was also echoed by Digvijay Singh, another rookie golfer on the APGA.
