Asian Tour season to be extended

Region’s top circuit could well finish sometime next April or May

THERE is a good likelihood that the Asian Tour season will be extended as far forward as April or May next year, according to the regional body’s chief executive officer Cho Minn Thant.

Speaking on a webinar post this week, entitled Return of the Tour – A New Era for Golf and Sponsorship, Cho added that they were also looking forward to resuming action on the Tour at the earliest possible time, targeting September, and that they were preparing for a string of new protocols precipitated by Covid-19.

The coronavirus outbreak has caused tens of thousands of fatalities, made millions ill across the globe and brought the world economy to its knees. Sport has not been spared the wrath of this scourge, that includes golf, now widely dubbed “the safe game” because of its natural social distancing on the course and one of the first disciplines to be allowed back as governments on all continents slowly reopen businesses and allow restricted movement of people.

Alongside Cho on the LinksAsia webinar, moderated by KB Momentum’s Kate Burton, were Chiragh Kumar, a member of the Asian Tour’s board of directors, chairman their Players Tournament Committee and a player on the circuit, and Hong Kong-based Roco Communications founder and director Ross Collett.

It was an insightful discussion that focused on the outlook of the pro game in Asia, as well as its players and sponsors.

Cho outlined what the commercial landscape might look like for sponsors and players in golf, and indeed other sports, as they return in the Covid-19 era.

He said there would definitely be changes in how sponsors interacted with their clients and guests at tournaments, as compared to pre-Covid-19 practices. The main causalities are likely to be the marquees with the “usual”pro-am tournaments replaced by a series of maybe three or so such smaller events.

He added that they were fortunate to have some sponsors “stand by” them in these “tough and uncertain times” and said they were grateful for the support.

He emphasised that their priority was to get the “players playing again” but within the restrictions and confines as laid down by the authorities where the tournaments are held in the region.

The Asia Tour “holds some 25 tournaments in up to 15 countries” and held four events on the trot at the “beginning of what was a good start” to the season – before it was curtailed by the onslaught of the pandemic in March.

Cho said they were taking a cue from the Royal & Ancient Golf Club (R&A) in Scotland, the world governing body outside of Mexico and the US, who have laid out a list of dos and don’ts to combat Covid-19.

He said they were also in discussions with all the world Tours, including the European Tour and US PGA Tour and made special mention of travel as among the key areas of concern. Some of the pointers he raised were for maybe flagsticks staying in, using local caddies as opposed to “traveling with your own caddie” and employing local physiotherapists.

“We are planning on rescheduling tournaments to stay in countries longer than a week where we have multiple events, like South Korea and India.

“There is a lot of collaboration going on between promoters and sponsors to try and make it work, because it would certainly reduce the travel involved, and costs.”

With companies laying off staff and working with shoe-string budgets, the sponsorship of sport has been called in question rather widely.

With this, Collett said there would still be a role for sponsors to play in golf if brands wanted to connect with their audiences

“Brands will want to look at what the consumer sentiment is and really make sure that they get the correct message out there. Activating it effectively and in line with what the changes in sentiment are would be equally important.”

He said if he was a rights holder or events owner then presenting a compelling proposition to sponsors would be (utmost) important, given that they would be parting with their money to sponsor the event.

He added that it is envisaged that there will be a greater shift to business to business programming, whereby tournaments work in conjunction with their sponsors to demonstrate a tangible return on their investment.

Social purpose and CSR programming, where golf has always been strong, will maybe take the lead here, said Collett.

With a view to getting new audiences drawn to the sport, he said new formats like matchplay being introduced and maybe more events with men and women competing together could do the trick.

“These have been tried before and been successfully, but maybe now, moving forward they will become the new norm.”

Kumar said he supported the idea of shorter formats of the game that could maybe also be a way forward.

He stressed that the players were “just looking forward to getting out there again and playing”.

The prospect of virtual press conferences, whereby players were interviewed (online) by the media from around the region (or world) after their rounds was also mentioned as a possible thing of the future.

Talk of increased traffic on social media was encouraged too, as a means of reaching out to new fans.

The panel also saw the present situation as an opportunity for golf to help re-invent itself and “evolve with the new technologies” to engage audiences through virtual means rather than following traditional four-day formats

with live television.

The priority is to get the players playing again, but within the restrictions as laiddownbythe authorities where the events will be.

Cho Minn Thant