Cho Minn Thant is perplexed at the backlash Asian Tour is facing because of its game-changing sponsorship deal with LIV Golf Investment and Golf Saudi.
Instead of celebrating the return of competitive golf in the region after nearly 20 dark months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tour Commissioner has had to fight the hundreds of obstacles that are being put up.
The $US5 million Saudi International (February 3-6) seems to be at the centre of the storm right now with the ire of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour’s (formally European Tour) directed towards it. However, a similar story is expected to repeat for every Asian Tour event following DP World Tour’s Keith Pelley categorically stating that there would be no compromise with the Asian Tour.
The PGA Tour has released some of its leading players for Saudi International, which will also be the curtain-raiser to the 2022-23 season. The DP World Tour is yet to make the decision, which will be tougher now that they have put up the Ras Al Khaimah Classic during the same week.
In a no-holds-barred interview with Golf Digest Middle East, Cho says he is not going to apologise for any decision taken by the Asian Tour board. He revels in the joy of his members who have been able to resume their golf career, and revealed some inside information on the deal with LIV Golf…
Why don’t we start with the resumption of the Tour? You had two events in Thailand recently – your first events in almost 21 months. I have spoken to a few Asian Tour members and they are all delighted. What feedback have you received?
I wasn’t personally there, but I have been told that the atmosphere was great. Everyone was in really good spirits. And I mean, coming back after 20 months of no events and then playing for two $1 million purse events back-to-back, that’s good money for our players. The cost of travel and expenses for the week in Thailand are very low. It was a relief that we didn’t have to run a super tight bubble like other tours have had to earlier in the pandemic. I mean, who doesn’t like flying to an island resort for two weeks and playing for a million dollars each week? We couldn’t have asked for a better start. Look, there was certainly no complaints from anyone involved. And it’s not just the players who restarted their campaigns. It’s the service providers as well. Let’s not forget the scoring guys, the physiotherapist, the TV crew… they’ve all been without work for the same period.
How are the two events in Singapore in January shaping up?
We are monitoring the Omicron situation very closely. The Singapore government has been very helpful. We have an arrangement in place for travellers from all countries except Category 4, which is the most severe category for travel. At the moment, the three countries that are in Category 4 are South Africa, Jordan, and Bangladesh. They will have to be in a safe country for 14 days before flying into Singapore. The rest of them can come in either on a vaccinated travel lane flight or come on a special exemption for the tournament. For guys who have to potentially go home and do quarantine like in Japan, Australia, Malaysia, we’re trying to work with a few golf resorts in Dubai and Thailand to give them a place to stay and practice in between tournaments.
Reports have circulated that the Asian Tour Order of Merit winner has been denied a spot at the Open Championship by the R&A. Is that only for this year, because you did not have that many events, or is it related to your alliance with Golf Saudi as reported in some media?
Well, the R&A has not officially stated their reason, and they’ve just sort of supplied a generic comment that they review their exemptions from time to time. It’s hard not to believe the various reports that speculate that it’s linked to the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour’s stance against the Asian Tour. We are still an affiliate of the R&A. I don’t believe that relationship will change. And we still have the Open Qualifying series tournaments in Singapore, Korea and the New Zealand Open. But, as you know, all those three events are co-sanctioned with another tour and we have limited spots. That’s why we felt that the Order of Merit exemption was very important because it guaranteed that an Asian Tour player would get in via that spot. Whereas now, there’s a scenario that not all four of the spots available at the Singapore open will go to the Asian Tour players, and the same goes for the Korean Open and New Zealand Open spots.
How has your membership reacted to it?
I had to break the news to them last week. I wanted the news to come from me, and not the media, just in case anyone had planned participation in the Singapore events to try and win the Order of Merit in the hope to still be able to get into the Open. So, most of them are naturally disappointed. Everyone’s encouraging me, or whoever can have any influence on the R&A, to ask them to reconsider that spot. I mean, the top of the order of merit list right now is a reflection of who is playing the best in Asia. The spot would be well deserved. If you look at the Open Qualifying series, it could be a guy who has one really good week rather than playing consistently over an extended period.
Are you surprised at the kind of vehement opposition that the Asian Tour has been facing ever since you guys decided to get the Golf Saudi and LIV Golf Investments sponsorship?
I don’t think anyone would have faulted us for taking this sponsorship had there not been the news of LIV Golf’s potential league concept. I think if the Asian Tour sponsorship was totally independent, and there was no speculation of the proposed league, then everyone would have been very supportive of what we’re doing. The mission, and my mandate, as the head of the Asian Tour, is to grow professional golf in the region. And this has undoubtedly allowed me to do that. It’s very frustrating that two bigger tours in the world of golf oppose that. And now, one of the largest governing bodies is also penalising our members for the fact that we’ve made a decision that will now allow us to grow.
The stance taken by the DP World Tour against the Asian Tour is surprisingly hard-line. Has that surprised you, considering you guys have a deep history and have been allies for a long time?
I think the stance that they’ve taken on player releases and their statements about being competitors in the marketplace, it’s not so much a surprise now. We knew it was coming because we’ve had discussions over the last 12 months or so. But in general, what surprised me is that they themselves will admit that they were looking at a similar concept and offer. This time last year they had two offers on the table. One for a similar League concept and one from the PGA Tour. They decided to go with the PGA Tour, but could easily have gone the other way. It’s interesting that they are taking this stance when we’re doing the same thing that they did, albeit with a different end result. The DP World Tour chairman David Williams’ has said that “The Asian Tour has gone from being partners to being competitors”. Keith Pelley has remarked that Asia continues to be an important region for the DP World Tour, but they are “not willing to compromise” when it comes to Asian Tour. This sounds to me like it is a declaration of war from them – not from our end I might add.
As a member of the International Federation of PGA Tours, our mission is to grow professional golf in our respective regions and work cohesively to make this happen globally. It is unprecedented to see any of our fellow Federation Tours restricting their members from travelling to other Tours. We should always respect each other and our core regions and allow our members to choose where they wish to play. So long as the players participate in the minimum number of events to maintain their status, they should be able to maintain membership with multiple Tours.
So, like the then European Tour approached the PGA Tour and were “bailed out” when they also had another offer from a League, did you do the same and approach Pelley or Jay Monahan? Considering the havoc COVID-19 was playing with the Asian Tour, I’d think that would be a normal thing to do.
During the last nine months or so, there were discussions about what we’re doing with Saudi, and there was a counter-proposal from the European Tour, which also was aligned with the PGA Tour. And we took both proposals – from Golf Saudi/LIV Golf and from the European Tour – to our Asian Tour Board. The reward, and the benefits to our players, was way higher if we aligned with LIV Golf. Their offer was way superior. In fact, I’d say some items in the European Tour proposal would have seen us go backwards. The relationship in our co-sanctioned events with Europe was heavily skewed towards them. We had several co-sanctioned events with them, close to 100, and they had only one on European soil (Omega European Masters) for a couple of years. They got more spots in Asia, almost 60-70, while we only got 30 spots in the European Masters. It was already heavily one-sided.
While all this is happening, I know your members are pretty happy with the resumption of the Tour and the increase in purses. Is there any kind of regrets about the decision you guys have taken?
Not from the board, not from the management, and certainly not from the players. It gives the players security for the long term and it makes the Asian Tour more vibrant and more lucrative. Although a lot of players do have aspirations to play in larger Tours, you’ve got to understand that 80 percent of our members want to stay and play in Asia. And they want to make a better living. It’s a bonus to qualify for a Major every now and then, but a lot of them say they want to stay and play in Asia. Asia is an economic powerhouse in itself but we acknowledge that we are slightly behind when it comes to our sporting culture and development of athletes. A stronger and more competitive Asian Tour can surely accelerate the ascent of male golfers from the region. The women are already there.
The DP World Tour and the PGA Tour are not willing to talk to us right now, but we are always open to discussing things with them. However, the Asian Tour will not apologise for its efforts to grow golf in the region, both in terms of attracting the best players for our professional events and supporting the next generation of Asian amateur players.
