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Danish ace Thomas Bjorn believes the European Tour’s drive to carry the game to the far corners of Asia is helping break the golfing stereotype and could unearth an Asian Tiger Woods in the future.
Of the European Tour’s 52 sanctioned events on the 2007-08 calendar, 13 were scheduled to be hosted by Asian nations, including the three-tournament Desert Swing which comprised the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Commercialbank Qatar Masters and the Dubai Desert Classic.
India has already hosted two events: the EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters and the Johnnie Walker Classic, while China was pencilled in for four events, with just the season-ending Omega Mission Hills World Cup remaining to be played.
In addition to that, the European Tour had sanctioned four more events: one each for Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea, which have all been played as of now.
The rise in the number of tournaments hosted by Asian nations has led to a corresponding increase in interest in golf, with a large number of Asian players joining the hunt for everything on offer.
This recent phenomenon has thrilled Bjorn and he lauded the Tour’s efforts to help bring in competition from different corners of the globe.
“I think the quality of golf is getting better around the world at the moment,” said Bjorn, who has nine European Tour titles under his belt, including the 2001 Dubai Desert Classic.
“After organising tournaments for a few years in China, the Tour has started looking at other countries in Asia. India has received two events this year.
“If the sport has to grow in this part of the world, I think it is important to host more big events here because the more attention golf gets the more popular it will become.
“Some 15 years ago, it would have been impossible to think that golf existed in some of those countries, but it has slowly started to become a big sport, because people see something great in it.
“Asia has so many golfers on Tour right now. You have guys from China, Japan and India playing against you and some of these guys are really good.”
Among those from Asia, the 37-year-old is particularly impressed with the quality of Indian golfers. He says the recent success of Tour professionals such as Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal and S.S.P. Chowrasia has helped spawn a generation of golf-loving youngsters on the subcontinent.
“I played at the Indian Masters and then in the Johnnie Walker Classic so I’ve played with most of the Indian golfers and they are doing pretty well on the Order of Merit so the quality is definitely there,” he said.
“We have seen Europeans, South Africans, Australians and Americans playing and dominating on the European and PGA Tours for years, now it’s high time we saw a Chinese or Indian golfer or someone from another nationality dominate the game.”
None of Bjorn’s contemporaries has been able to match Tiger’s dominance in the sport. The Dane himself failed to live up to the hype he built following his incredible run to the 2001 Desert Classic victory over Woods. Bjorn though, is of the opinion that the next Tiger Woods is waiting to be discovered and he could be roaming the streets of Dubai.
“You never know,” he says with an element of surprise in his voice. “That’s why you have to take the sport around the world because he [the next Woods] could be anywhere; in any country.
“It’s just a question of helping the sport grow in the right regions and it will happen. The next Tiger Woods could be walking down the streets of Dubai for all you know. You won’t know where he is, but the challenger is surely out there and he could come from any country.
“Someone from India or China could go on to become great or maybe even the greatest golfer of all time, but you will never know until you take the game to a wider audience, especially to kids and a younger generation.”
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