Australian Golf Bodies Agree to Merge in Bid to Spark Revival
10/07/2007 |
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The PGA of Australia and PGA Tour of Australasia will create a single governing body for golf to try and compete more effectively with rival sports and tours.
Both boards unanimously endorsed a formal agreement to merge and will recommend that all their members support the proposal, the organizations said today in a joint statement.
``Combining our resources and intellectual property will create immense opportunities for the amalgamated body to market and promote the game of golf with a unified vision and approach,'' PGA Tour of Australasia Chairman Peter Senior said in the statement. ``This is a great step forward.''
Even as Australian golfers experience unprecedented success overseas, the domestic tour has contracted as sponsors pulled out and leading players including top-ranked Tiger Woods focused on the U.S. PGA Tour, the world's richest.
In the 1999-2000 season, there were 11 professional golf tournaments held exclusively in Australia. Only four -- the Australian Open, Australian PGA Championship, Australian Masters and Jacob's Creek Open -- remain on this year's schedule.
The merger ``is paramount in moving professional golf forward and being able to effectively compete with other sports in a highly competitive commercial market,'' said PGA of Australia President Geoff Scott.
Senior, a former professional who won tournaments in Australia, Europe and Japan, will become the new body's first chairman with Scott replacing him after a one-year term.
Max Garske, the current chief executive of the PGA of Australia, will assume the same position with the amalgamated body, while PGA Tour chief executive Ben Sellenger will be appointed to the new role of tour commissioner.
Away from Australia, the nation's golfers have two victories on the U.S. Tour this year to follow 2007's record tally of nine. One fifth of the world's top 30 are currently Australian, led by Adam Scott at No. 4 and 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy at No. 8.
(Source: Bloomberg.com)
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