By Rahul Banerji
Viraj Madappa on Sunday became both a trend-setter and the first Indian to find himself perched on a growing fault-line in the world of professional golf.
At Newcastle, the Kolkata-based golfer brought in a top-six finish in the International Series England event of the Asian Tour. That helped earn a berth at this week’s LIV Invitational in London,
The $25 million series, promoted by the Greg Norman-fronted LIV Golf, is involved in a developing battle with the big daddy of world pro golf, the PGA Tour.
The US-based organisation has said it would sanction those who sign up with the LIV Series, which promises a lucrative and innovative option to professional competition as it exists worldwide.
Towards this end, the PGA Tour and the DP World (European) Tour formed a “strategic partnership” to offer two-way traffic between the organisations and its members.
That froze out the Asian Tour which has now moved into a closer embrace with the LIV International Series.
New dance
As a first step, the Asian Tour and LIV Golf presented the Newcastle event from which the winner and five other top finishers travel to London’s Centurion Club.
On Sunday, Madappa (68-70-70-71) finished as the best-placed Indian on 5-under 279 at the Slaley Club course near Newcastle.
Gaganjeet Bhullar (72-70-69-72) was next at tied 23 and S.S.P. Chawrasia tied for 30th place.
Shiv Kapur, who had started the event well was T36, Ajeetesh Sandhu T44 and Chikkarangappa S. T49. Karandeep Kochhar (77) finished 64th and Jeev Milkha Singh (75) was tied 68th.
Madappa and Kevin Yuan of Australia were the two highest finishers from the Slaley Hall event who were not otherwise exempt on the International Series merit list.
They joined Australian Travis Smyth, South Africa’s Ian Snyman and Thailand’s Itthipat Buranatanyarat who qualified from the cumulative order of merit of the Thailand and England International Series events.
Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent won with a 12-under 272 aggregate at Slaley Hall on Sunday, making six additions to the LIV Invitational Series in all from the Asian Tour.
Opting out
Interestingly, the list did not include all of the top five or six finishers from Newcastle with 2021 Asian Tour order of merit topper Joohyung Kim of Korea and South Africa’s Justin Harding opting out.
Meanwhile, the Asian Tour on Monday said it had confirmed a further two International Series events on its schedule in August.
From August 11 to 14, the Tampines Course at Tanah Merah Country Club will play host to the International Series Singapore, the Tour said.
Next up would be Korea’s Jeju Island for the International Series Korea at Lotte SkyHill from August 18 to 21, both events offering $1.5 million in prize money.
Asian Tour Commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant said: “We’re delighted to confirm the dates and venues for what will be the third and fourth legs of the inaugural International Series in 2022.
“The first two events, in Thailand in March and in England last week, have been resounding successes.
“Not only have they signified the beginning of our relationship with our strategic partner LIV Golf Investments, but also marked the start of what promises to be a phenomenal period of growth for the Asian Tour.”
Further additions
More International Series events are planned this year in South East Asia, North Asia and West Asia, the Asian Tour said.
The inaugural event was staged at Thailand’s Black Mountain Golf Club in early March and won by current order of merit leader Sihwan Kim of the US.
Incidentally, Sihwan too has opted out of the LIV event in London.
With the addition of the International Series, the Asian Tour will offer an estimated 25-event season and a record-breaking combined prize fund.
Cho added: “These events are a massive boost for the Asian Tour. The International Series will set new standards in terms of prize purses, staging, player and fan experience and destinations.”
Also read: Shiv Kapur, SSP Chawrasia make day one gains at Slaley Hall
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