JAIPUR: The rapid rise in Covid-19 cases due to fresh virus mutations has put an end to international tournaments being hosted in Asia. The last tournament on the
Asian Tour
- Bandar Malaysia Open - was hosted from March 5 to 7 in Shah Alam, following which heavy travel restrictions were imposed by various Asian countries. Further, the Asian Tour has not released its schedule for the next 4-5 months, signalling that it might make a return only after the rainy season.
"It's not that the Asian Tour doesn't want to restart soon but the bigger issue is with travel restrictions and quarantines. A lot of players from different countries don't want to play as they have to go through a 7-14 days quarantine. Say someone from Australia has to play in Thailand, they need to quarantine for 14 days in Thailand and when they return, they have to again quarantine for a similar period in their home country. So the golfer has to endure both inconvenience and high cost, who will cover that? Sitting idle for almost 28 days in two locations is really tough,"
Chiragh Kumar
, who is a member of the Asian Tour's Tournament Players' Committee, told TOI from Delhi.
Right now, only three Indians - Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Shubhankar Sharma - are plying their trade on the
European Tour
, which has created bio-bubbles in host cities/countries to offer assistance to travelling professionals. Maybe the Asian Tour can also follow this model to ease the life of Asian golfers.
"Travelling between European countries there aren't any restrictions. Even when one is travelling from outside there isn't any quarantine for someone who has a negative
RT-PCR
or antigen test," Chiragh informed.
According to sources, the Asian Tour is definitely coming to India in the second half of the season with the tri-sanctioned Hero Indian Open scheduled from October 28-31.
Chowrasia, a four-time European Tour champion, will be playing the Austrian Golf Open in Vienna this week. The 42-year-old echoed Chiragh's sentiments and lamented at the lack of tournaments for Indian pros in Asia which would have helped golfers from humble backgrounds sustain themselves financially.
"I feel bad for Asian Tour players as they are sitting idle. I along with Shubhankar and Gaganjeet are lucky that we are getting to play in Europe. European Tour has done a tie-up with all host countries that the quarantine centre is their venue course and official hotel. It's akin to private quarantine. When we enter immigration, we just need to show papers related to our tournament entry confirmation and they let us in. I really don't know what stops the Asian Tour to follow such a model and make life comfortable for the travelling golfers," Chowrasia told TOI from Kolkata.
Chiragh, who won the Asian Tour's Panasonic Open India in 2015, has only seen his world rankings plummet to 1339 in the last three years with lack of good competition due to lesser number of events in the wake of Covid-19 and a wrist injury in 2017 only adding to his woes. This is pretty much the case with other Indian pros too who hold a card only on the Asian Tour.
"Due to the
Coronavirus outbreak last year in March I went to the course only in late August. So I had taken a bit of a long break and then the PGTI events started and I didn't play well in any of them. Things were starting to look better 2-3 months back but it's getting bad again to new strands of the virus. It has become very restrictive and you can't stick to your regular routine, like going to the gym etc. Not having a full schedule also lowers the motivation levels. Having said that you try and do whatever you can to keep in shape and keep practicing. So, I am looking forward to the second half of the year when things will fall in place," the 37-year-old said.
"I got badly injured in 2017 and it took me more than two years to get back on track. I had a cyst in my wrist, so I was out for almost 6 months in 2017. It has been an up and down thing since then as there are restrictions on what I can and what I cannot do. But I am better now," he added.
Now, the Indian pros have no other option but to bank on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) to sustain themselves financially. However, the PGTI has taken an undisclosed break since hosting its third event of 2021 last month and are yet to make their full calendar official.
"This rise in cases will subside in a month or so, especially with the vaccination drive reaching a good percentage of the population. We are planning to host one or two events in May for sure and will take things forward from there. We would announce the calendar for the second half of the year a bit earlier this time," PGTI CEO Uttam Mundy told TOI.
Asked if PGTI can also host events inside a bio-bubble, Mundy said, "Most of our pros come from B-towns/cities, they usually like to take a train to the host city. For them staying in a hotel is way too expensive, also the prize money on offer compared to the European Tour is very less. So that model can't be followed here."
Charity golf to raise money for CHD patientsRotary Club of Delhi South is organising a hybrid 12-day international golf tournament, 'Play Golf, Gift a Life' starting Wednesday at the Delhi Golf Club, to unite people from across the globe and contribute generously through their participation to give a Gift of Life to children with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). More than 80 golfers including cricket legend Kapil Dev, four-time European Tour winner
SSP Chowrasia
, Asian Tour regular Chiragh Kumar and multiple winner on the WGAI circuit Vani Kapoor have already pledged their support for the noble initiative. In India alone, 300,000 children are born with CHD and 25% seldom live beyond the age of one, especially from low income families. The tournament is aimed to support 50-plus CHD surgeries. To participate, an individual can play at a golf course 9/18 holes of his choice across the world by making a nominal contribution between USD 20-40. The tournament will be played in stableford format with the winner being decided on April 28 as per the scores submitted online by the participants.
"This is a noble initiative. I instantly said yes to becoming part of the event. I know of many kids who die due to Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) because of lack of money. Their parents from poor backgrounds can't take care of the medical expenses. It is good to have someone doing something to help such troubled children. Hope that more and more golfers contribute to the cause and more and more children benefit from this," Chowrasia said.
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