JOIN USWith the City set to host its maiden Asian Development Tour event -- the Take Solutions India Masters -- from Wednesday, its commercial director Shahid Sen said the aim is to turn it into an Asian Tour event in the coming years.
“At the end of the day, it is all about corporate sponsorship,” said Sen on the sidelines of a press conference here on Tuesday to announce the event. “As long as we have corporate support like Take Solutions coming forward and helping the Tour grow, we think there are larger events to be had in India. We are here to work with the Tours. On the longer run, our aim is to make this ADT event into an Asian Tour event.”
Barring the Indian Open at the Karnataka Golf Association in 2012, Bangalore, despite being home to Asian Tour winners C Muniyappa and Anirban Lahiri and producing top talents like S Chikkarangappa, Khalin Joshi and Aditi Ashok, has been devoid of Asian Tour events with most of them being staged in the National Capital Region.
When asked if the Tour plans to stage an event in the Garden City again, Sen said its all about sponsorship.
“It all depends on what markets they are interested in. Yes, I agree, there are lot more events in North India but I think we could do a lot more events here as well. We have 21 ADT events across the Tour but just this one in India. Of course, we have Asian Tour events but once more sponsors come forward, we have can more events in venues like Bangalore.”
Sen also felt the rise of Asian Tour players has benefitted the Tour immensely. “We are the third largest Tour in the world after the PGA and European tours. We have players from 30 different countries playing in the Tour.”