With one big tournament lost and prize money reduced in another, India’s fastest growing sport is feeling the effects of the economic slowdown. Is this just a temporary phase.
Dove Mountain is an oasis in Arizona’s hottest dry lands. It was here in the Sonoran desert during the Match-Play Championship last week that people saw a mirage. The high god of the golfing pantheon was back, albeit briefly, and so were the faithful. But if that made you believe that money would quickly follow suit, it doesn’t seem like happening anytime soon.

As the global economic engine seems to be going phut, the corporate world’s dearest sport has taken a direct hit, and it would take more than a man’s effort to bring golf back on track, even if that man is Tiger Woods.

If any further proof was needed, St Andrew Links Trust, one of the most powerful bodies in the sport and the one that literally owns the ‘Home of Golf’, decided last week to shelve jobs in the wake of the financial crisis. Close on the heels and closer home, the slump forced tournament organisers to cut the prize money for the Asian Tour SAIL Open by 25 per cent in order to keep it on the calendar.

Of all sports in India, golf seems to be the most severely affected by the downturn. While the country hosted four huge events — two on the European Tour — with a whopping $6.4 million prize purse last season, this year’s scenario has so far been bleak. With real estate being one of the worst-hit sectors, the title sponsors of the flagship Indian Masters, Emaar-MGF, had to shelve the tournament for the year. Security concerns in the wake of 26/11 also prompted the sponsors to withdraw, but even before the Mumbai attacks, the same organisers had pulled the plug on the $170,000 Ladies Masters.

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