He has been entrusted with the task of expanding the reach and generating higher revenue for the Asian Tour. In the first five months of his stint as the Asian Tour CEO, Josh Burack has added four new tournaments that will feature on the 2018 calendar. The former Senior Vice-President at Dentsu Sports Asia, a subsidiary of the sports division of Dentsu Inc. Japan, is also strengthening ties with the PGA Tour of Australasia and other leading golf bodies in the region. In an exclusive chat with Golf Digest India Managing Editor, Rohit Bhardwaj, Josh revealed his plans of bringing a new event to India besides disclosing the tenets of the strategic alliance with the European Tour. Excerpts from the interaction:
GDI: What are your plans to increase the number of events on the Asian Tour in the next couple of seasons?
JB: Last year we had 24 tournaments. This year we have 25 already on the schedule. We have added new events for 2018 like the Philippine Masters (co-sanctioned with the European Tour) and the New Zealand Open (co-sanctioned with PGA Tour of Australasia). We sent some 10 pros to New Zealand during the Indian Open week due to respect for Hero MotoCorp as we wanted all our top players competing in New Delhi. We are in active discussion with a number of promoters, brands and golf associations around the region. We added an event in Fiji (tri-sanctioned with ET and PGA Tour of Australasia) earlier this year as well. I think we have started 2017 on a decent note. We also have plans of bringing a new event to India. So, 4 new tournaments in the first 5 months I believe is not bad. Our ultimate ambition is to stage an event almost every week of the year. We have a long way to go but with the right team in place at the Asian Tour office, I am sure we will eventually be able to fulfill that objective.
GDI: What exactly does the strategic alliance with the European Tour mean? How will it benefit the Asian Tour players?
This story is from the April 2017 edition of Golf Digest India.
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This story is from the April 2017 edition of Golf Digest India.
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