New Delhi [India], September 25 (ANI): Professional Golf Tour of India CEO Amandeep Johl explained the reason behind sending a show-cause notice to 17 professional golfers who contested in a different tournament that clashed with PGTI’s Chennai Open.
Recently, a huge uproar erupted after PGTI suspended 17 professional golfers for participating in the Yuvraj Singh-backed Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) Invitational Tournament at Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida, between September 17 and September 19. The dates of IGPL collided with PGTI’s Chennai Open, which was held from September 16 to 19.
Gaganjeet Bhullar, one of India’s most successful golfers, has represented the country at the Olympic Games and is a multiple-time winner on the Asian Tour. His suspension, alongside that of players such as Aman Raj, Harendra Gupta, Karandeep Kochhar, and Sachin Baisoya, has led to distress across the golfing community.
Johl claimed that PGTI has no objection to its members participating in different tournaments to earn more money, given that those events do not clash with the ones hosted by the PGTI.
“For your selfish motive, if you play in a private party’s tournament, then you can play. We have no objection. If you make more money, we are happy that our brothers are doing well financially. But when we have a PGTI match, don’t play anywhere else that week. If you’d like to play, please ask us. Whether we give you permission or not is a different matter,” Johl told ANI.
“We want them to play even now. Look, I have given them a show call notice to explain themselves. We have tournaments for 25 weeks. We say that after 25, there is no tournament for 27 weeks. Play for those weeks. We are not saying that. We are saying that don’t play only at our time. We are only requesting this with folded hands. The anger is that we can do everything. So we want them not to be angry. We have only 25 events. 27 weeks are empty. They are doing 10 tournaments. If they are doing the same in our tournament, then it is wrong. We had already announced our schedule,” he added.
Amid the current friction between the players and the PGTI, Johl went on to explain the consequences of their top players withdrawing from the tournament that affect the sponsorship aspect and said, “When there is an organised PGTI tournament, which the association has organised for itself, and you play a match with any other party that week, it makes a difference to our sponsors. If it makes a difference to the sponsors, then it makes a difference to the players. What will we tell the sponsors? Our top players are not coming to play.”
“So the sponsor says, Why am I investing money? So it affects everyone’s livelihood. We have only told them that if you have played, then you have not taken permission. If you have not obtained permission, please come and explain why you did not obtain permission,” he added.
The Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) of PGTI, comprising five members, issued show cause notices and simultaneously passed suspension orders. It was reported by players that the DAC had overreached its authority, as it has no power to issue interim suspension orders before the completion of a full enquiry.
Johl said that players have been called in on September 27 to explain their stance to the DAC and said, “So if you are doing as you please, then you will have to sit for an enquiry. So we have called them on the 27th. You explain your point. Maybe we do not understand what you are trying to say. The disciplinary action committee consists of players. So we said that until the disciplinary action committee makes a decision, you will not be able to play our PGTI tournaments. That’s all.”
In the aftermath of the decision, players are now considering approaching the judiciary to restore fairness and uniformity within PGTI. Players have already filed two cases before the Delhi High Court, the most recent being one by Ranjeet Singh and Kapil Kumar.
“See, there are players, individuals, and independent contractors. If they go to the court of law, then we cannot stop them,” Johl said while reacting to the response from players.
“Look, the association is for professional golfers. It is made for the betterment of professional golfers. If Kapil Dev has come as the president, leaving cricket aside, he has come for the betterment of professional golfers,” he added. (ANI)
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