NEW DELHI: Indian golf is going through rather strange times. While the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) has managed to host but three events so far this year, and with only the ‘Delhi-NCR Open’ at Gurugram scheduled from March 16 coming up, on the amateur side of the golf economy, its boom time.
From golf coaching to academies to courses, all are seeing footfalls like never before. And ironically, it’s all thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Why? Becuase among all sports, golf is the one that has social distancing in-built. After all, even the golf ball that an individual player uses is not shared with anyone else.
Coming back to the pro tour, the fact that the Asian Tour is yet to restart hasn’t helped matters.
As Udayan Mane, India No 2 in rankings (World No 317) tells New Indian Express: “We haven’t heard anything from the Asian Tour on the resumption of events.
“A few of the players haven’t played since last March. At least, some of us have played in all of the PGTI events.”
In the midst of all this depressing news, something positive to report. Though there has been no official announcement on the matter, SportzPower has been informed by top golf industry sources that Kapil Dev, Indian cricketing legend turned avid golfer, has been inducted into the PGTI governing board.
IF Kapil takes an active interest in the PGTI’s running, it might well lead to an upswing in sponsor interest, which by extension would benefit Indian pro golfers.
