Hero Honda to sponsor Indian Tour

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 12. Hero Honda has taken over as the `Tour Sponsor' for Indian golf with the domestic circuit receiving a boost of Rs. one crore in prize money.

The fast-growing popularity of the sport has also helped the golf managers to sell it internationally, with India as a destination. Apart from the increased prize money, there will be three tournaments of the Asian PGA Tour in the 2001-02 season. There were only two APGA events in the previous season.

Besides the $ 300,000 Indian Open and the Hero Honda Masters, the Honda-Siel PGA Championship has been elevated to the status of `specially sanctioned event' by the APGA and PGA of India.

The Hero Honda Masters, traditionally held in November with $ 200,000 as prize money, has been moved to February with a bigger prize fund. Hero Honda has added another $ 100,000 dollars to match it with the Indian Open. February has been chosen to ensure participation by more APGA players, it being the start of the season for the Asian Tour.

The 2001-02 Indian tour will be known as the `Hero Honda Golf Tour' with 30 tournaments, an increase of six events against last season. Already, 17 events have been confirmed for the season starting on August 8.

``We are in the process of confirming the remaining tournaments. We hope to have 30 events this season,'' said Mr. Brandon de Souza, President of the Tiger Sports Marketing, event managers of the Indian golf circuit. ``The withdrawal of ITC was a huge setback, but with the sport gaining popularity in India, the new sponsors have assured enough money,'' he said.

In the last season, Rs. 2.31 crore in prize money was committed through 24 events. However, two events - Wills Masters (Rs. 20 lakh) and Color Plus Open (Rs. 10 lakh) - could not be held as the sponsors withdrew at the eleventh hour. This made the 2000-01 season a Rs. 2.01 crore tour.

For the forthcoming season, Rs. 2.60 crore have already been assured and it should increase to Rs. 3.1 crore once all the events are finalised. As during the last four years, the season traditionally opens with The Hindu Open at the Cosmopolitan Club golf course in Chennai, from August 8 to 11. The Rs. 7.5 lakh event was won by Vijay Kumar last year.

Hero Honda has also increased its domestic tour events from one to three. Apart from the Hero Golf Chandigarh Open, it will sponsor the Southern India Open in Bangalore (August 22-25) and the Western India Open with Pune as the tentative venue. The events will offer Rs. 10 lakh each as prize money.

The ITC Limited, which pulled out of the sponsorship after the Union government's move to ban tobacco companies from sponsoring sports events, had four events of Rs. 10 lakh each on the domestic tour. One of the events, the Eastern India Open, has so far not received any sponsor.

The new sponsors are planning to introduce a `Player of the Month' award as an added incentive for the players to participate in all the events.

With the Honda-Siel PGA Championship becoming a specially sanctioned event, there will be only 60 slots open for the Indian PGA players while the remaining will be filled by the APGA Tour players. There are only 20 slots for Indian PGA players in the Hero Honda Masters and the Indian Open.

The Tour sponsorship was finalised after a meeting between the Managing Director of the Hero Honda Motors Limited, Mr. Pawan Kant Munjal, and Mr. de Souza. Mr. Munjal is also the President of the Professional Golfers Association of India and the Deputy Chairman of the APGA Board of Directors.

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