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OMEGA DUBAI LADIES MASTERSDecember 12, 2014Mohamed Juma BuamaimIvan KhodabakhshDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us today. We are here to announce a very important renewal of the OMEGA Dubai Ladies Masters for a further three years. And on my far right is Mohamed Juma Buamaim, Vice Chairman and CEO of Golf in Dubai, promoters and organization of the Dubai Ladies Masters, and to my right, Ivan Khodabakhsh, Chief Executive Officer of the Ladies European Tour. Like to start by inviting Mum to stay a few words. MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: Thank you, good morning. Thank you for being with us. Today is a special occasion for us. Obviously this has been signed a while ago but as usual we try to get the best we can out of Ivan, so at least, we are going to sign an agreement for the next three years. We are very happy to continue with this because we do believe in ladies golf in this region. I believe it's very, very important for this market alone that we see such young ladies, good players, especially now with all these 18 years old, 17 years old girls playing. It makes our lives much more easier to say to people in this part of the world that this is a game or a sport for everybody. It's not just for the old men like in the old days who had money. It's actually for anybody, especially the young ladies who work very hard, as you see. In this tournament, there's a lot of these girls who have come up out of nowhere all of a sudden. I notice, also, some girls coming through from India playing in this tournament, which means this region is actually catching up with the game of golf for the future. So it's an important thing to sign with LET, and we are very thankful for Ivan, because he's been very, very instrumental in developing this series, and I understand his passion. He's pushing a lot to make it better and better, and he's even trying to get the prize fund increased but we're looking into that. Yes, we are very happy. IVAN KHODABAKHSH: Thank you. Well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you, Mohamed. He took literally all the cues I had (laughing). Yes, I believe we are sharing absolutely the same vision. We are nine years here, but our vision is being more just as a tournament once a year to be here. We want to have a partnership year round. We are here to develop women's golf and we hope that our players, especially young players, can inspire a huge new generation of young players picking up. We are here for the long run, and this agreement for an additional three years is a testament to that. We couldn't ask for a better partner here with us. So most happy to sign this agreement, and with the prize fund one day increasing. (Laughing). Q. Does it remain a year‑ending event, and can you just tell us any other details? Obviously you are not increasing the prize fund right now. MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: Yes, it will be. The prize fund we will not hesitate to increase when the time is right economically for us, as well. Remember we have two tournaments, we have so many other activities or assets we are working with now, the MENA Tour and so on and so on. We are trying to spread our finances the best possible so we can benefit all the other things we do. The MENA Golf Tour is a very important thing for us, and I'm sure LET understand that, as well. But that doesn't mean we wouldn't be looking to increase, because it's good for the tournament. Q. Any change of venue? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: Oh, yes, it will always be at Emirates Golf Club. I can't see any reason why it would change. Q. Maha was here and she brought up a very interesting topic about the MENA Tour‑‑ the professionals and the amateurs in the reason, to have a tournament like that. She brought up a point saying that amateurs can be given a platform like that. Are there any parts in your mind, I know there are not many professional golfers from the MENA Tour here, but is there any part in your mind, any plan in your mind on the back of this announcement that you want to do an amateur ladies tournament? MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: It's not fair to start a ladies division with just one player I think. So if there is other players in the region who join and who want to play, we will be more than happy, of course, because that's even better for us to see the girls play for this region. We see the ladies playing, even Arab ladies, even better for the game; but unfortunately we don't have, it's only Maha. And Maha, we are trying to work hard to make her be better, better herself for the LET, because that game is good for us in this part of the world. Q. Talking about the amateurs, is there a possibility that you might have the 12 top handicap players‑‑ MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: You find them, I will do it, okay. Q. It's not just about getting top amateur players‑‑ MOHAMED JUMA BUAMAIM: There is no reason, because, you know, the clubs are willing to assist. So adding another 12, it doesn't have to exactly be in the same day. Yes, we would love to do it. But we are finding it difficult in this region, GCC; we are finding it difficult to have boys play, never mind girls. I don't know what's going on with these guys. But there isn't enough development in this part of the world. Let's talk LET now. Q. For the LET, do you want to build a legacy in this region to help start women's golf locally with Arab golfers; that important to your legacy? IVAN KHODABAKHSH: Absolutely it's more than just legacy. It goes on developing today. LET created a new vision where we specifically brought the grass roots and development and the inspirational part of what LET can provide in the forefront we have as probably one of the few tours, professional tours, actually, a development department now in place. And, in fact, our thoughts are, not to be just here with one tournament. If there is a critical mass of players, good amateur players, we are most happy to work on that. We have our own development tour, the LET access series, which plays in Europe, and we would like to deploy that in more places. But then you need that critical mass to achieve, and then you can kick start it, because there has to be the top LET amateurs and then we are on the top professional, and we are ready to bridge that gap with additional support from our side. Doesn't mean we need to run them but we can help and we would be part of it. That's also in our partnership, just talking about prize money is the wrong thing. It's about how much jointly we invest to make this event having a much wider presence. And yes, season‑ending, absolute, it is because it has a unique date. This weekend we will have an amazing broadcast distribution around the world, and we are most, most happy that we can work with golf in DUBAi on that. We have a big team, marketing team here, because exactly, we would like to showcase our players. We want to showcase the region. It is very, very important for us. Q. I wanted to ask you, on the back of the status that the LPGA Tour has had recently, prize money increased, players are doing well and all that. Are you feeling that effect on the LET tour, as well, and can you tell us something about what is going to be your schedule for next year? Are there going to be any increase in tournament? What are the highlights? IVAN KHODABAKHSH: Well, in first place, any tour in women's golf which does well is good for women's golf and is good for us. If LPGA is becoming more tournaments stronger in the U.S., great, fantastic. We are mainly in the European and some Asian and also of course here in the Middle East. That's as a first place. Secondly, yes, we have significantly increased actually our prize funds for next year. We have a number of tournaments, four, which will have next year half a million Euros prize fund, similar to Dubai. For us, we will have two new tournaments on the schedule. However, it's not about how many more; it's about quality. Because we as LET feel that we are responsible in first place to bring quality and much more value for our promotors instead of just adding more promotors. I mentioned that yesterday to my own membership; in 2012, we were broadcasted globally 194 hours. This year we will surpass 2,700 hours. This is what counts. This is what we bring, a first‑place value to the tournament, and then the growth will continue. But if it's the Korean tour, if it's the Chinese tour, LPGA, Japanese Tour, if all of us grow, we grow women's golf. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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