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Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.
Asian Tour Commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant, LIV Golf Investments CEO Greg Norman and Asian Tour No.1 Joohyung Kim.
By Kent Gray
The Middle East will host two of the Asian Tour’s 10 new premier ‘International Series’ events in 2022 and is set to become a key region for a circuit no longer “geo ring-fenced”, Commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant says.
The International Series was unveiled on the sidelines of the Saudi International on Tuesday where former world No.1 turned LIV Golf Investments CEO Greg Norman confirmed the Saudi-bankrolled company had increased its previously announced US$200 backing of the series to $300 million over 10 years.
Significantly, there will also be event at London’s Centurion Club in June as the Asian Tour takes its new brand to territories traditionally the stronghold of the DP World (formerly European Tour). Norman likewise mentioned the United States and Australia as future targets to host events, insisting the 10-event series “is just the beginning”.
Minn Thant echoed those sentiments when asked how important the Middle East was to the Asian Tour moving forward, mentioning the strategic partnership between the circuit’s development tour and the MENA Tour as another building block in the relationship.
“It’s greatly important to us. Now that we’ve done our first event here at the Saudi International, our first event in a long time in the Middle East, it’s just the first step of many,” he said.
“We’re looking to do two of our International Series events in the Middle East region and like Greg said, my phone has been inundated with calls, especially from sponsors, potential stakeholders in the Middle East wanting to have a piece of the action.
“I think it’s going to be a huge part in what we do in the future.”
Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin has been chosen as the debut venue with the $1.5 million The International Series Thailand scheduled for March 3-6. It will be followed by a $2 million event at the Centurion club from June 9-12 before further stops planned in Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Middle East, China and Singapore ahead of the series culminating in Hong Kong.
The 10-events will be woven into the Asian Tour’s planned 2022-23 schedule set to filled out by 15 “regular” stops. The full schedule, including host venues and dates for the eight remaining International Series events, would be announced in “due course” as the Asian Tour continued to be challenged by the pandemic and Asia’s tougher travel restrictions.
Minn Thant said the LIV Golf cash had emboldened a sleeping giant to shed its previous inferiority complex although both he and Norman were at pains to point out that they viewed themselves as a “respectful and healthy competitor” to the PGA and DP World Tours.
The Asian Tour would be an “open tour” offering playing opportunities to players from around the world.
“Part of our strategy is to make the Asian Tour a more global tour. Twenty-five nationalities are currently playing on our tour but it’s not just for Asians and it’s not just in Asia anymore,” Minn Thant said.
Norman said LIV Golf Investments had “identified a new opportunity out of a lost opportunity” – namely a golf industry which had access to 45 percent of the world’s population. He would not be drawn on LIV Golf’s mooted Super Golf League which has been rumoured to sit over and above the Asian Tour investment other than to reiterate “this is just the beginning” and “we have our game plan and we’re executing very well across all sectors of the eco system.”
Norman said LIV Golf Investments wanted to work with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour alliance and used the analogy of a pie. He insisted LIV Golf did not want to steal a slice of the pie from the PGA or DP World Tour, but rather grow the pie “for everyone” via an untapped region boasting 4.5 billion people where “60 percent of all golf course construction [globally] is happening.”
“It’s all about the game and I cannot enforce this enough, it’s for the benefit of the game, it’s not for the benefit of administrations. It’s for the benefit of the players, the fans, the stakeholders, the broadcasters, everybody across the board.”
The rhetoric is unlikely to sway the hierarchy at PGA headquarters in Florida or DP World Tour HQ in Wentworth, nor critics of Saudi Arabia’s massive investment in golf. The traditional tours are preparing for a battle for the game’s biggest names despite Norman’s assurance that LIV Golf, or by association the Asian Tour, “are not in this for s fight. We’re in this for the good of the game.”
“If they want to be upset with us, that’s their choice. We’re not upset with them, we’re not picking a fight,” Norman said. “Our process is this. LIV Golf Investments is investing into The International Series, that’s what we’re focused on now, today. Will there be things announced in the future, absolutely there will be things announced in the future.”
Minn Thant felt scathing attacks on the Asian Tour’s strategic partnership with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf in the media were unjustified. Likewise, Norman asked the rival circuits and detractors “what are you scared of?”
“It’s disappointing, to be honest personally disappointing, to see some of the attacks taking place unwarrantedly. If you prejudge anybody without knowing the facts, shame on you. Are you scared of something?
“Understand the fact that we have always and continue to be very collaborative and cooperative with any of the institutions, right across the board. We want to work together, side by side…I would encourage them to sit back and say, ‘maybe it’s a good time to sit down and understand if we can work side-by-side.”
