Asian Tour CEO Mike Kerr Tuesday said he has allayed players’ fears that they could lose out in a merger with the European Tour, adding that the move was aimed at nurturing “elite golfers” to drive the sport in the region.
Kerr said the proposed creation of a mega-tour straddling Europe and Asia would go ahead and had been broadly welcomed by players, despite fears from some Asian professionals that it could limit their playing opportunities.
He added that it would create a “pathway” to the world’s most prestigious events for players from Asia, and in the process create more elite players from the world’s most populous continent.
“What I can say very confidently is that no Asian professional is going to lose any opportunity,” Kerr told AFP on the sidelines of the HSBC Golf Business Forum in Shanghai.
“We are going through a process of education with the players,” Kerr added.
“The European players have embraced this almost 100 percent. For the Asian players I think it’s a much bigger change for them. There have been a lot of questions and a lot of concern, as you would imagine.
“Change in any industry, in life, is not something that is easily embraced. We have addressed their fears in the way we have structured the partnership.”
Kerr said he could not disclose details of the merger and they were still being negotiated.
“Yes it’s all confidential,” Kerr said. “But we are going to partner together. We are merging the membership. We are merging the businesses.
“Asian players will continue to be able to ply their trade in Asia if they wish.
“But for those who want to progress, those that want to create a real career out of professional golf, what we have done is create a very clear pathway to get into some of the more established events in the world and then through to the majors, the WGCs and the cream of the elite tournaments.
“From an Asian Tour perspective we want to create elite golfers in Asia to drive golf and unlock the potential of the game in Asia.”
Kerr said the tours are there to benefit their members — the players — and the merger will ensure long-term stability at the top level after a long period when golf’s governance has been fractured in Asia, with rival tour OneAsia competing for sponsorship and some events disappearing from the calendar.
“It will create scale. It will create a new product. And it will create stability,” he said.
“I don’t think that we would have embarked on this had we not believed that actually it would satisfy our core purpose, to deliver more earnings and more opportunities for all of our members.”
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