Good turnout for India's first-ever International Series event fuelling sponsors' interest: Asian Tour CEO

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Gurugram, Feb 2: The DLF Golf & Country Club has transformed into a week-long concert venue with a good crowd turnout, only lifting the stature of India's first-ever International Series event to any premium event staged in Europe or the USA.

While World No. 12 and two-time Major champion Bryson DeChambeau's arrival to India has generated a lot of interest among golf enthusiasts in the country, it is the creation of the experience zone with simulator, several food courts offering Thai, continental, Indian and Italian cuisines, ticketed entry, live telecast on multiple giant screens, musical performances by popular Indian bands like Parikrama and Euphoria that has taken the fan experience to a whole new level.

The highest prize money international event in India till now, the $2.25 million Indian Open, organised by the National Sports Federation - the Indian Golf Union (IGU) - at this very same Gary Player layout never saw such a crowd turnout in the last decade or so, especially on weekdays.

The last time a golf event witnessed a big crowd turnout in the country was in 2014 when the golfer legendary Tiger Woods visited the Delhi Golf Club (DGC). More than 2,000 spectators thronged the DGC from early morning to catch a glimpse of Woods.

The golf clinic organised by DeChambeau and India's Anirban Lahiri on Wednesday (January 29) saw more than 500 individuals including school kids and tennis icon Leander Paes throng the DLF driving range. The first two days also witnessed more than 2000 individuals arrive at Asia's toughest course in terms of slope rating (150) despite fog delays stretching the rounds.

According to the organisers, Asian Tour along with LIV Golf, the weekend tickets, offered for free, were sold out for the weekend. 9500 tickets were sold on Saturday (February 1), while 10500 tickets were sold for the finale on Sunday (February 2). The organisers further informed that more than 15000 spectators attended the event, setting a new record in the Indian golfing history.

Naturally, Asian Tour CEO Cho Minn Thant is optimistic that the overall vibe is likely to fuel sponsors' interest and the continental tour will bring back more international events to the country. The last time the Asian Tour staged an international tournament in India was back in 2023, the $750,000 DGC Open.

"I think this week has been phenomenal for us. It's a very high bar to set so early in the season. It's only our second event, but it's a very strong start to the season in terms of player participation, the set-up here, and the spectators.

"It's arguably the biggest tournament that we've ever had in India. That's a really good way to re-enter India because as you know we haven't been here for a couple of years. It's a very strong way for the Asian tour to partner LIV Golf with the International Series and DLF," Cho Minn Thant told MyKhel in an exclusive chat.

"Even with the fog delays and not knowing the exact timings, are we going to go into round three today, are we going to finish round two, even with all that up in the air, there's a very strong crowd, so it's very encouraging," he added.

There was a time when India hosted at least 4-5 international golf events annually. Sample this, in 2008, India hosted the Emaar-MGF Indian Masters, Johnnie Walker Classic, SAIL Open and Indian Open. 2011 saw five international tournaments Avantha Masters, SAIL Open, Panasonic Open, Indian Open and Gujarat Kensville Challenge on the European Challenge Tour.

With the DP World Tour proposing a $5 million event in the second half of this year, the nation's stature in golf is in revival mode. Whispers are on that a LIV event might be hosted in India maybe next year.

"It's (this event) obviously, going to do a lot for the game of golf here. It's going to stimulate a lot of interest it's going to create competition there's no reason why there aren't going to be bigger and better tournaments here but we pride ourselves in this tournament being what it is and we think it's so far gone very well," Cho Minn Thant added further.

"There's nothing right now outside of this event for this year. I am just guessing that this event has created a lot of interest and more sponsors will be willing to (invest). I hope people come and watch this event, identify it as an Asian Tour event and want to do something. I wouldn't say the same scale because it takes a lot of effort, and a lot of financial resources to do this type of scale but we'd love to do smaller events in India and not just be restricted to Delhi, there are other places in India that can hold tournaments, have great golf courses and we'd love to," he elaborated.

Lahiri, during the interaction with reporters after his second round on Friday, had also hinted that the idea of staging the International Series event here was the first step to persuade LIV to touch Indian shores.

"The feedback from all the players including LIV is extremely positive. I guess the idea of staging an International Series in India was to generate interest for LIV. DLF is such a fantastic course and with the crowd management and the layout, set-up etc, it is the ideal venue to host it," Lahiri had said.

Hopefully, India will have the chance to host a LIV Golf event too and welcome a galaxy of former World No. 1s and Major winners from the likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Charl Schwartzel, Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, in the future. Obviously, the fans will make a beeline to see these icons from close quarters.