NEW DELHI, India – Culture shock does not begin to describe the reaction of European players last week when they made history by staging the first European Tour event in India.
No doubt the players felt like pioneers as they readied themselves to play in the second-fastest growing economy in the world. However, after witnessing the squalor in India, it’s doubtful many will want to return.
You have to see New Delhi to believe it. Poverty is everywhere, and words cannot do justice to the filth you see in India’s capital city.
Streets are lined with rubbish. Men urinate openly against walls. Families live unsheltered on the streets. When it’s cold, they start fires on the sidewalk and gather around them to keep warm. You see mothers putting children to bed at night under dirty blankets laid out on the sidewalk.
During the day, barefoot children beg for money, some as young as 2 alongside older siblings who show them the ropes.
Most European Tour pros in India last week never left the confines of their luxury hotels except to take the bus to the course. However, the 20-minute ride was enough to convince many never to visit India again.
That may have repercussions for the Feb. 28-March 2 Johnnie Walker Classic here.
Many players I spoke to off the record told me there was no way they were ever coming back.
Sports psychologist Jos Vanstiphout doesn’t have to worry about receiving a fine for criticizing the European Tour’s choice of venue - unlike the players. He was happy to speak his mind.
He was certain this trip to India would be his last.
“I’ve been to some awful places in my time,” Vanstiphout said, “but this is the worst. I’ve seen India and I don’t want to see it again. Many players feel the same way. I can’t see many wanting to come back.”
I couldn’t help but think the Indian Masters must have been what the European Tour was like in the 1970s, when it was just getting started. The practice facilities were poor, the courses weren’t ones you would rush back to play, and each event had a primitive feel to it.
The Indian Masters contrasted starkly with the previous week’s event in the opulent surroundings of the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai.
You can’t blame the European Tour for wanting to get involved in India at an early stage. If you believe the hype, this nation is set to rocket over the next 15-20 years. Given the tour’s willingness to take its brand around the world, India is a natural fit.
Why the tour thought New Delhi would be the ideal place to start the ball rolling is beyond me. The sheer squalor of this city marred what should have been a historic tournament.
A little extra due diligence was needed in setting up this deal. True, Emaar offered up a nice, fat purse in $2.5 million, but this event should have been staged as far removed from the reality of India as possible.
Instead, they threw the players into the deep end rather than breaking them in gently.
It will be interesting to see how many players who competed in the India Masters turn up to play in the Johnnie Walker, which is a big purse event. And that, of course, is a big draw. Players getting appearance money will turn up, and there never will be a problem filling the field.
However, one established player who did not want to go on record, said: “Why would you come here if you don’t have to? I’ve never seen anything like this and I don’t want to again. No way I’ll be coming back to India.”
He wasn’t a lone voice.
The European Tour got its choice of venue badly wrong for the first event in India, and it may pay the price as a result.
Posted: 2/12/2008
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