|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MENA GOLF TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTFebruary 2, 2013Mohamed Juma Buamaim2 February 2013       MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM, Chairman, MENA Golf Tour THE MODERATOR:  Welcome to the MENA Golf Tour press conference and today's announcement about the 2013 MENA Golf Tour, like to introduce Mohamed Buamaim, Chairman of the MENA Golf Tour. MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: Thank you for coming. I think you've seen the schedule of course, this is our third year, we had an experience in Saudi Arabia which was a very, very good experience because we just realised that this should have been done a long time ago. They have been waiting for it for a long time. It was very successful and I believe they want to do two tournaments. The other ones who come in new are Morocco. Of course, Morocco, their history with golf is very large. They have been playing golf for about 48 years, so they are leading Arabian golf. Our experience so far has been a lot of kids are coming through in terms of even in Morocco, for instance, they have these tournaments, but they experience the game by the MENA Tour by playing with the expatriate golfer, sort of helps their ability to play golf better. And based on, that of course, we decided to go to Morocco and today we had the guys from Morocco, from Saudi Arabia, from Egypt and so on where we created a board of trustees for the MENA Tour. And the idea behind it, of course, is it's not a UAE thing, the MENA Golf Tour. It's for the whole MENA and they should be involved in it. Egypt is already talking about inviting us there this year but I'm not sure if we can do it. Actually it would fit in very nice with Morocco. We will look at it. But the idea behind this board is just to have other people advising us, rather than because we think we know everything, we think it's the right way forward. You need to get that advice from other people. And we have very experienced guys on this board, Fahim Al Qasim is head of the Arab Golf Federation; Khaled Abu Taleb from Egypt, he has two golf courses there and he has been head of the Arab Golf Federation for a long time. Then Khaled Abu Nayan from Saudi Arabia, who decided after last year, they need another golf tournament there, so now we have got a another event in Saudi. So all in all, I'm very happy because, you know, you go from four to six to 11 is fantastic in three years. The only thing is, we are three years old, I don't like. It's just the time goes by so quick. I think I've said what I've got, so if you've got any questions. Q. Must be very satisfying, as you said it's grown from 4 to 11 in a couple of years.  Can you just give your thinking behind having the events in March, starting in March, in the summer and September? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: It's always been our strategy that we are dividing the Arab world, the MENA region into two, if not three for later on, but for now two. So if you are playing Morocco, you can play, say, Tunisia and Egypt, and then which can be during the busy months. This part of the world, March and that, we have too many golfers. We can't really accommodate golf tournaments here free of charge as we are because we go and get these courses free. So it will work very well if we have got two in Egypt. So you do Morocco, Egypt and then you are back, perhaps to Saudi Arabia, which is now very far from Egypt. And also, I believe there is a lot of Europeans who will take part in this, especially in Morocco. It's very close to them and there's not much going on in Europe. Q. It must have worked logistically also to have Morocco in March, and then later to have that gap in between going to Qatar and Oman, again. MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: It's amazing, because we have different national ties and the visa is a problem, but the way these guys are talking, we ain't going to have a problem, because Saudi Arabia, we had I think about 346 in our membership. They gave us a permission for 346 people, Visa number already in the letter. It came to them, whoever submitted got their Visa within 24 hours. So that just shows you that these guys want golf in their countries. Dirab, I didn't know, Dirab was 20 years old. So they had golf there for a long time. We just didn't know about it. So they are serious about making many more courses. By the way, about doing that, what you call a group Visa, it's the first one, and now for tourism, that's what they are going to use, because they are going to get tourists from overseas, instead of individuals, now you can do group business. Q. Can you give us an idea, will these be full field? How big will the sizes of the fields be? What can you tell us about the purses, will there be a minimum and what can we expect as far as prize money and maybe first place, that type of thing? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: In terms of field, it depends on the light. We play 120. I think with Morocco, you can play with more people, and of course that's all we have. The tournaments are actually three days, two days and a cut. We have the Sunday is for we need qualifying are it's used as a practice round. The prize fund has not changed for each tournament. It's 50,000 for the tournament, 75,000 for the final. But the good news is the tournaments now are putting their own money, not mine. Q. I was going to ask you that question. How many tournaments don't require your funding? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: The most important one is the TOUR Championship now, which is higher than every one, that's the Abu Dhabi Sports Counsel has the funds for it. Saudi Arabia, will be funded privately. Morocco, and I want to go to Morocco, because I think that's where it should start, and they have a lot of players, European players, so we are funding that. Qatar are working on it and Oman are working on it to get the funds. Q. Any efforts made for a title sponsor? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: I'll give you the proposal now if you want it. We are looking and the guys, you know, we just met with, they are going to have a look. So we are finding the funds for it. I am not really concerned about it because I think it will happen because whoever becomes the title sponsor of this, they are in every home in this part of the world, which has over 400 million people in the MENA region, so that's a big market for, say, a bank, soft drinks or whatever kind of company. Q. Are you planning to do it as a franchise, that you give rights to it? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: We are following the route of our partner in this tour, The European Tour. We are just copying what they are doing. Because you know, every country has a right to host a tournament. They can find sponsors for it. We go there and have them run it. Some countries, maybe they want to do the tournament there but they don't want to invest their own money, so they need to get a sponsor and then we cover part of the green fees for the local logistic. So they are entitled to that. Q. Do you feel the MENA Tour can be its own entity or an affiliation with the European Challenge Tour? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: I never said there was a tie with any tour. It has its own standing and it is totally different from the European Tour, anyway, because they are 40 percent amateur. But we always are in contact. The European Tour has an office here and he's nagging us all the time, of course, Mr.Tarratt, so I'm sure we can work together. I think the MENA Tour should be self‑standing now. Q. Appreciate the MENA Tour has only been running for three years, curious what does the Tour need to do to perhaps attract interest for World Ranking points or criteria for joining the Federation? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: The amateurs are already in the amateur World Ranking because of the R&A. With the sanctioning‑‑ inaudible‑‑ I think it has to come. Common sense prevails; it's a big region, you know, should have its own field. Q. What's the reaction been like? Have you spoken to any players who featured last year? Will it still be the same next year for the amateur‑‑ have you spoken to Qatar? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: I have them on the board, so I think the idea behind it; I don't think Qatar will have a problem with at least one. Morocco, we already have. So it's only Abu Dhabi and that will come. And they all missed the cut. This is the whole thing about this tour. You have to give people a chance. One of them could make it and that's good enough. My main thing behind the Tour is actually the amateur side, not the professional side. Q. One of the things that you've managed to get is the top guys go to the Asian Tour Q‑School, the final stage. Is there anything else like that which is in the pipeline following this year? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: We are always looking for opportunities, because I think a lot of them will actually‑‑ the money is important, but not as important as a spot in, say, the Desert Classic or Qatar Masters or Abu Dhabi. We will always continue to look for opportunities for them. I think the Asian Tour has been very good to us by giving us that. Q. (Inaudible.) MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: The whole reason behind the amateur side is the local amateur. It was built to encourage these amateurs to play. So we always kept our two spots in the Desert Classic, one for a local amateur if possible. As you know, we gave it to Michael (second on the Order of Merit). I don't think the amateurs should get that many spots at this time. Q. Inaudible. MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: The winners, we try to find them good accommodation reasonably priced. Money is the same, prize fund, but the people that that play in the tournament, the more that we can put onto play, the better. Q. Can you just tell us about the rules that they play and if there's been any expanding funding into the Tour? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: The first thing was they have given us the World Ranking. We play three rounds. The second thing is that as you know, the R&A supports golf in many places around the world, including the Arab Golf Federation. For years they have paid money to the Arab Golf Federation. I think they did tell us that they will support us financially if we need it, but I don't wish to be going to the R&A for it. We should do it ourselves. But I think they will support us. Q. You obviously said the MENA Tour‑‑ none of them made the cut in this year's tournament, and this is the carrot for them. How do you feel about that? And do you hope through further competition on this tour that they get more perhaps match‑hardened and perform better in this tournament eventually over time? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: Well, I think the more they play obviously, the better they get. You have to remember two things. One is, we are working on getting a lot of Arab amateurs into the game, whether they are existing ones or new ones. Because at the moment when you mention Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods on TV, my mother doesn't know who they are. But if you mention a local name, whether it's from Morocco, then they realise, that's an Arab name, and then a little interest. I think if we have one or two of the Arab kids even in the Top‑10, it's a good thing, because we have produced a programme which goes to all the Arab‑speaking TV stations. That is good enough for the time being. Q. Speaking of TV, have you looked at anybody else‑‑ MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: Still waiting but I think the guys did okay. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|