Exclusive Interview with Ben Cowen: DP World Tour’s Vision for Indian Golf & New Pathways

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In this exclusive interview, Ben Cowen, DP World Tour’s Chief Tournament & Partnerships Officer, shares insights on the tour’s growing focus on India. From the Hero Indian Open’s success to hosting Challenge Tour events and the strategic alliance with PGTI, discover how the DP World Tour is shaping the future of Indian golf.      Watch now to understand how Indian golfers can rise to the global stage!      #DPWorldTour #BenCowen #HeroIndianOpen #IndianGolf #PGTI #ChallengeTour #GolfPathways #GolfInterview   #BenCowen #DPWorldTour #HeroIndianOpen #IndianGolf #GolfInterview #PGTI #ChallengeTour #GolfPathways #GolfDevelopment #GolfInIndia #GolfAsia #SportsInterview #GolfNews #GolfUpdates #GolfLovers  ~HT.178~GR.344~PR.100~GR.344~

Transcript

00:00How has been the experience with the Hero Indian Open this time and what kind of excitement you

00:06have seen in the last three four days during this event? It's great to be back here in India

00:12playing the Hero Indian Open. We've got a long history with this event and with Hero as our

00:18title partner. We've got a new long-term deal with the Indian Golf Union for this tournament as well.

00:24So we're excited to see how we can grow this tournament over the coming three years. This

00:31week has been an exciting week certainly. We've seen some tough conditions out here for the golfers

00:36but they've enjoyed it. You know it's a great golf course. The greens are very fast this week. The

00:44wind has been a little bit sort of difficult, tricky for the guys but you can see that our

00:48defending champion knows how to play this golf course. So he's playing well again and hopefully

00:55today on the last day we'll see if he's the true champion that he is and wins again.

01:00How has been your interest in the Indian market? I'm sure it is very important for the European

01:06Tour of the DP World Tour to be coming to India and continue their relation with the Indian market

01:12and the Indian corporates, especially Hero Moto firm. Yeah, I mean the DP World Tour is the global

01:18tour, global golf tour. We go to 24 different countries so we have over 30 different nationalities

01:25playing with us. So India is one of those and remains a very important country for us to play in.

01:30So it's nice to have a long-term partnership here with the Indian Golf Union and also with the PGTI

01:39as well. We have a strategic alliance with them and we're very proud of that alliance with the PGTI

01:45and helping to grow and develop the young professionals as well as the young amateurs

01:50working with the Indian Golf Union. You brought in two challenge tour events this year, the Delhi

01:55Challenge and the Kolkata Challenge. There was a time when you had challenge tour events earlier

01:59also but there was a gap. What is the objective of bringing a challenge tour event here in India?

02:04Does it help in creating a pathway for more Indian players to go on to the DP World Tour,

02:10the main tour and play there? Yeah, so the two Hotel Planet Tour events that we've had for a number

02:17of years and we had again this year, they're really, I think, instrumental for the Indian players.

02:21You know, it's tough to come out here onto the DP World Tour once a year and compete for all of the

02:27guys. So to have two opportunities before that on the Hotel Planet Tour really gives them a springboard

02:32coming into the Hero Indian Open. They get, you know, quite a few spots in the Hotel

02:38Planner events and that creates the pathway. So if they play well there, they can then progress

02:43onto the Hotel Planet Tour and then going forwards. But we also have, through our strategic alliance

02:48with the PGTI, the leading player on their order of merit each year gets a card onto the DP World Tour.

02:54So, you know, there's lots of different pathways and that's what we're trying to create. We want to give

02:58the best players around the world the opportunity to come and play on the DP World Tour and the Hotel

03:03Planet Tour.

03:04World Tour is actually getting more into Asia, like you hosted the Singapore event. So what is the plan for

03:10expansion of the DP World Tour, making more inroads into Asia?

03:14I don't think there's plans to do more inroads into Asia. I think we're very happy with the events

03:18that we have. The Volvo China Open is a long standing event. The Porsche Singapore Classic as

03:24well here at the Hero Indian Open. And then we have a new event this year in Hainan Classic in China as

03:29well. We have, I don't know if you've seen, but we have these swings now through the global swings,

03:35the part of the season. So from basically from November when we start our season through to August,

03:39we have these number of swings and we have an Asian swing. So we want to have a certain number of

03:44events, four or five events in Asia, but we're not looking to expand beyond that. Obviously there are

03:48opportunities for all the Asian players to play on their respective local tours and then find a pathway

03:54onto our tour.

03:55If you've seen the last five years, how has the DP World Tour grown and how has been, especially the

04:00Hero Indian Open, you have seen it grow. You have been the tournament director for, tournament

04:07business officer for a long time for this event.

04:10Well, this event, you can see it's growing in prize money obviously as well.

04:15But I also feel in stature, the quality of the event here now as you walk around is much higher.

04:20It's good to see some people out here on the final day of the tournament.

04:23The weather's been a little bit hot, so not quite so conducive to getting people here,

04:27but we want to try and grow the game here. So it's not just about the professional golfers,

04:32it's also how do we get more people interested in the game. So in the future there are more

04:36spectators and more people playing the game. So that's the aim and we'll be working closely

04:40with the Indian Golf Union and the PGTI to try and achieve that.

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