New Delhi, Feb 16(.) The player auctions for Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI)’s upcoming ’72 The League’ is underway in the national Capital on Monday.
The ’72 The League’ will be India’s first franchise based professional Golf league. 170 professional Golfers, including 19 foreign players, are being auctioned for the league that will be played in Delhi NCR from February 24 to March 6. The league will be played across three of Delhi NCR’s Golf venues- Classic Golf & Country Club, Qutab Golf Course and Jaypee Greens.
Speaking to ., PGTI, CEO Amandeep Johl appeared happy at the way the bids were going
“the real value of the players are being seen, many players who have come from qualifying school and just become professionals, like Shubham Jaglan, Jhared Hack are going for high bid prices. What is encouraging is that many players are going for much higher than their base price, for example 21 year old Shubham had a base price of Rs 3 lakhs, he went for Rs 19 lakhs.”
He stressed that format of the League is deciding the bid price of the players
“The format decides a player’s value, here the format is match play, even if a player is low on the ‘order of merit’ but his match play game is strong, he is going for a higher bid price compared to a higher ranked player, who may be ranked higher due to his superior stroke play skills.”
He felt that the league will feature very strong franchises
“we have got well rounded franchises- Rajasthan, Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, so the main centers of Golf have been covered which is very good for us.”
‘Game of Life Sports’, a manufacturer and supplier specializing in sports accessories is partnering the PGTI in the ’72 The League’
Samant Sikka, Co Founder, Game of Life Sports, speaking to . said that corporate support is the primary reason for the Golf taking off the world over
“the reason why it was such a success in the US was corporate support, every top corporate, bank, financial institution is involved, because the CEO’s, CFO’s themselves play Golf. Proximity to the decision makers is highest in Golf, like no other sport. Also golf is structured in something called the Handicapping system, which means that I can play with the best players in the world because I am given extra strokes, it builds a model where the Professionals and amateurs can play together. This Pro- am structure is very unique to Golf, it happens in no other sport. Which I think draws the corporates, draws them to participate in the events, to sponsor the tournaments.”
Sikka described the league as a bridge between the corporates and the sporting bodies
“leagues are nothing but a bridge between sporting bodies and corporates, they build a structure where the corporates get associated as a team owner, or as a sponsor while the sports body has a different objective- they have to take care of the players, take care of the tours, league is a vehicle where these two come together.”
Johl informed that the opening ceremony of the league will be held in New Delhi on February 21, and it will be graced by ICC President Jay Shah, and trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation Kiran Nadar among other dignitaries.
. .