PGA Tour hopes to inspire players, fans in Asia
The PGA Tour’s annual October fest, featuring three tournaments at three destinations and a whopping US$26.5 million in total prize money, has begun with the ongoing CIMB Classic in Malaysia.
It is becoming a wonderful tradition for the game in the Far East when fans welcome and celebrate some of the best golfers on the planet in successive weeks with the CIMB Classic in Malaysia, CJ Cup in South Korea and World Golf ChampionshipsHSBC Champions in China.
Mega events attract the biggest stars of the game who deliver the glitz, glam and fireworks on the fairways and it promises to be a glorious stretch of tournaments in a region widely acknowledged as the game’s biggest growth opportunity.
From Dustin Johnson to Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka to Justin Thomas, Francesco Molinari to Hideki Matsuyama and Patrick Reed to Rory McIlroy, many of these superstars have punched their tickets to Asia in chase of top dollar, early-season 201819 FedEx Cup points and ultimately be a part of a tour which is driving the growth of the game around the world.
“The PGA Tour is a global organisation, we’ve got a global membership and we are an important part of a global sport,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.
The $9.5 million CJ Cup, the newest addition to the PGA Tour’s schedule last season, will see Thomas returning to Jeju island in search of a fourth win in the region before Asia’s lone World Golf Championships event, the WGC-HSBC Champions, concludes the festivities with Justin Rose, the title holder, headlining the starry field in Sheshan International Golf Club.
When Monahan visited the inaugural CJ Cup last year, he told the Korean media that the tour hoped to inspire many more golfers into the sport, which reportedly now has more than 80 million people playing the game globally.
Asia’s growing middle-class segment is expected to raise the figures in the years to come.
“It’s an honour to be in this golf crazed market [South Korea] and it really is a remarkable market place for golf. I think as you look to today and look to the future and in fact if you look to the past, 10 years from now and beyond, we hope we are inspiring a new generation of fans and new generation of players by having the best players of the world here in South Korea for the CJ Cup,” said Monahan.
The stars too have also embraced the tour’s vision with both hands. Not only do they enjoy the opportunity to perform in front of new fans, the diverse cultures from one city to the next has been a strong pull in their decisions to venture abroad.
“The game is so global now,” said CIMB Classic defending champion Pat Perez.
“I think it’s awesome that the tour’s expanded outside the United States.”
Xander Schauffele, the 2017 rookie of the year, epitomises the game’s facet best.
“I have a very international background … my dad’s half French, half German. My mom’s Taiwanese, grew up in Japan. So it’s cool that golf has allowed me to start here in Malaysia, then Korea, then China. If you want to be one of the best players in the world, you have to be a global player. You have to collect fans in different countries and play well in different countries,” the American said.
Additionally, the PGA Tour’s collaboration with other golf bodies including the Asian Tour, Korean PGA and China Golf Association have provided positive influences as well, as explained by India’s Anirban Lahiri.
“I think this is a great, great platform. For a lot of the young players, it will be the first step. But you never know where that path leads, so it’s great,” said Lahiri, now a regular on the PGA Tour.
Monahan is convinced the PGA Tour’s footprint in Asia can further contribute towards the game’s growing popularity.
“One of the six tenets to our mission statement is to grow the game, and any time we are actively growing, diversifying, developing the game, opening new markets, hopefully everybody that’s involved in the game is benefitting,” he said.