OFF COURSE? OF COURSE NOT

As the two take their places among the scores of champions in sunny Shanghai this November, Ernie Els will do well to lean over and seek out Jyoti Randhawa, and veer the talk to the peacocks at the Delhi Golf Club or the Lodhi tombs at the history-laden course. A tip or two, after all, on negotiating the DGC from somebody who8217;s developed a penchant for setting records there, might just come in handy for the South African.
Indians logging frequent flier points around the world and returning home from famous golf destination with big pay cheques is par for the course these days. Local players brushing shoulders with present day golfing greats is passe, the news is doing that in their own backyard. The story today is of Indian greens getting a greener hue.
A booming economy and much more than a token Indian presence in the main draws of big events means India is the new permanent feature on a top golfer8217;s itinerary. Having played host to the Asian Tour Indian Open preceded by the Indian Masters for some years, there8217;s a new world map awaiting the country8217;s golf courses in the coming months.
Much was made of the European Tour8217;s planned new stopover worth 2.5 million in Delhi this coming February, and a world No 4 confirming his foray east. A few months on, and it was double whammy as Johnnie Walker announced Gurgaon8217;s DLF Golf and Country Club was where the tri-sanctioned super-starrer would descend in March, another 2.5 million event. Add to that the Ladies European Tour event in Bangalore for the brand new Indian Ladies Masters this coming December.
8220;Chicken tikka8221; and a twinkle in the eye was Asian Tour regular Unho Park8217;s response to being asked on India8217;s attractions as a place to visit with the golf bag in the luggage cart. But the Australian, who decided the stay back for a domestic tour event here after the Indian Open week, wasn8217;t off the mark when goaded further. 8220;A lot of your guys have been doing well around the world and they brought in the interest. New places are always interesting to players and sponsors, and India is seen as a golf destination waiting to be discovered.8221;
Golf in DUBAI, the till now largely middle-east centred associate of the construction company Emaar-MGF that8217;s bringing the men8217;s and women8217;s European Tour events here, seems to have spotted just this potential. 8220;For us, golf and business go hand in hand. India is a vibrant economy and it suited our profile in terms of business. But what also goes for India is the golfing infrastructure and growing mass interest,8221; says Viren Varma, media manager for Golf in DUBAI.
But how much of mass appeal does golf really hold? Can we really expect people to suddenly pick up those clubs after merely watching Ernie Els or Vijay Singh in flesh-and-blood? Indian Golf Union secretary Satish Aparajit certainly thinks he holds the country8217;s new vibe. 8220;After recent successes of our players abroad, the participants in the junior programmes have mushroomed all over. A local level event at the DGC attracts over 300 players. If world class players play here year after year, we can only imagine the impact,8221; he says.

As an industry insider explains, unless sponsors are sure of getting mileage they wouldn8217;t venture near a golf course. A European Tour event is guaranteed worldwide television viewership, but it also means a physical presence of the brand here in India. The fact that golf is being used as a vehicle to advance business interests is proof that the game has an appeal in India.
8220;Sports like tennis and golf were always playing catch-up. But as they get live on television and have people and events that get talked about in the media more and more, the sponsors are also realising a new potential,8221; says Indian men8217;s tour commissioner Ajai Gupta.
But what makes this golf boom even more significant is the fact that it does seem to be percolating down. The country8217;s amateur circuit was the beneficiary of LG8217;s planned move into golf. Just this past week, a junior level tournament at the DGC was held with event managers, boasting an international airline as one of the sponsors. So, even as the sport8217;s flag-bearer Gaurav Ghei laughs, 8220;We did pretty well in the amateur ranks without any sponsorship,8221; Aparajit insists on the boons. 8220;Sponsorship cannot equal talent being unearthed, but it certainly gives us the ability of giving the players better facilities, more exposure trips abroad,8221; he says.
Rama Chawla from DLF, who have a three-year umbrella sponsorship for the fledgling women8217;s professional tour and who got a women8217;s Asian tour event to India last year, says the big events are great, but it8217;s the ability of making a living out of the sport that will ultimately be a factor in popularity: 8220;Youngsters today need something to attract them and then make them stay, and that sort of money is starting to come in.8221;
For long, golf was a professionally played and run sport in the country that was consistently throwing up performers internationally. Corporates thinking big and jumping on the bandwagon to get a chance to showcase their wares on the golf course was inevitable. In a nutshell, India wants 8220;more8221; golf and that means players like Els will have 8220;more8221; of India. And we aren8217;t just speaking about the peacocks that Els will encounter at the DGC next year.