OneAsia chief blames smear campaign for Korean snub
Source: Agencies |
April 29, 2010, Thursday
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A BOYCOTT of OneAsia events by South Korean golfers is misguided and provoked by parties with "conflicting commercial interests," the tour has said.
The tour's chief executive Ben Sellenger said yesterday the Korea Professional Golfers' Association decision was a blow but said Korean events would go ahead as planned with local players involved.
"It is disappointing but to say it's a hammer blow is probably overstating it a fraction," said Sellenger. "The decision is based on a lot of misinformation. It seems a small number of senior, vocal players have led this."
OneAsia had initially faced a pullout by local players in South Korea but the decision by the KPGA to snub all the events on the fledgling tour is an embarrassing setback. The row erupted after South Koreans expressed their unhappiness at the number of spots available to local players at next week's Maekyung Open and other events in the country.
Sellenger said the furore would not cause major disruption at next week's event, the first of three tournaments planned in Korea on this year's OneAsia Tour schedule.
"A decision has been made behind the scenes with a massive impact but the Maekyung Open will go ahead with leading players from the Korean tour," he said.
"We still welcome Korean golfers into OneAsia events but potentially it will be a little bit of a change of direction for us ... looking at other qualifying routes."
The KPGA and Korean Golf Tour could look to return to the established Asian Tour after the vote to boycott also covered events in China and Australia.
The Asian Tour, which sees itself as golf's standard bearer in the region, has accused the new body of "cannibalizing" their tournaments. A KPGA press release claimed a "lack of consultation" on sponsorship along with limited places for South Korean golfers while blasting OneAsia's methods as "nonsensical."
Having initially dismissed reports of a potential boycott, OneAsia moved quickly to limit the fallout from the shock move by the Koreans.
"We want to work closely with Asian Tour," Sellenger said. "Unfortunately there is a huge difference between the discussions we have face to face and what we read the following days in the tabloids.
"There are conflicting commercial interests of many parties blurring the issue."
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