The return of golf tourism, plus big events and expanded play options is elevating the Asian golf hub. People are doing everything they can to strengthen their business while also still being cautious.
The industry saw various Asian golf tours emerge last year after the pandemic put things on hold, seeing the Asian Tour setting itself up as a worthy competitor against the American and European tours on the world stage. These include the Asia Grand Final of the Faldo Series — the only global amateur series for boys and girls — which will play out over the Sir Nick Faldo Signature Design at Laguna Golf Lang Co in April 2023.
Central Vietnam will also roll out the welcome mat for the global golf industry as Danang, its largest city, hosts the Asian Golf Industry Federation (AGIF) and Asian Development Tour (ADT) over the course of the year.
Last year, Greg Norman’s LIV Golf Investments announced the creation of a 10-event series on the Asian Tour.
“We are setting the Asian Tour up as a powerful new force on the world golf stage,” said Norman, CEO of LIV Golf Investments.
Most recently, LIV Golf hosted the LIV Golf Invitational Bangkok in October 2022 and made it known that they meant business. LIV Golf is looking to hold events in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Vietnam and Australia for the rest of 2023. Asia was hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this investment in the game for the region is going to further cement LIV and Norman as essential players.
Golf entertainment has also expanded worldwide. Around 5,000 golf simulator locations in South Korea use Golfzon technology. This has fueled a market in which more rounds of golf are being played away from courses than on them.
Here’s a look at this year’s most powerful people in Asia:
No. 1: Kim Young-Chan
Chairman/CEO, Golfzon Yuwon
Golfzon, led by chairman Kim Young-Chan, has expanded its scope of activities this year. Golfzon is leading the popularization of golf through various services based on simulators combined with IT technology. The company has been reborn as a representative golf company in South Korea with 6,000 Golfzon stores in the country and around 2,224 (as of the end of January 2023) franchises.
At the end of 2022, Golfzon Range, a golf academy using the GDR system, opened in the U.S. market, and in February of this year, the first store of the sports pub-concept golf cultural space “Golf Zone Social” opened at the Palisade Center in New York.
No. 2: Greg Norman
CEO Greg Norman Co. & LIV Golf Investments
Norman credits his success in Asia to his long history of playing the sport professionally. He said he had the flexibility and foresight to expand his reach and pivot accordingly whenever the economy in a certain part of the world shifted. The recent success of LIV Golf has shown that success firsthand.
No one has seen their star rise faster in the past year than Norman. The self-described “living brand” lent his talent to Saudi Arabia’s effort to challenge the PGA Tour, a move that has garnered both respect and hatred from various parts of the golf industry. To say that Norman and LIV are polarizing may be an understatement.
In the United States, the golfers assembled for LIV Golf’s inaugural season have been dubbed “a mangy assortment of moth-eaten veterans” and “roadkill in the modern game” by critics.
But in Bangkok, in anticipation of the Saudi-sponsored tour’s debut in Southeast Asia, those same golfers were called “a stellar field” and “48 of the best golfers on the planet.”
The incongruity hints at where Norman, the renowned Great White Shark, might find a financial buffet. The World Golf Hall of Famer’s nascent venture is taking elite professional golf — featuring a growing collection of Major champions and Ryder Cup heroes — to largely untapped golf markets. Traditionalists may scoff at the nature of LIV Golf’s competitions, but fans without intimate historical ties to the sport are seeing the tour for what it is, not for what it isn’t.
Obviously, LIV Golf is demonstrating the power of money. Norman persuaded the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund to extend a 10-year, $300 million lifeline to the struggling Asian Tour, making it a loyal partner. He’s hired David Feherty, a much-liked television personality, for LIV Golf’s broadcast team, and he’s stocked his executive suite with former decision-makers from Augusta National, ESPN, Formula One and even his main adversary, the PGA Tour. He could soon start a women’s tour.
Importantly, LIV Golf is still beta testing. Next year, the men’s tour will grow to 14 events and more than $400 million in purses, extending its footprint beyond North America, Great Britain, the Asia- Pacific and the Middle East to Australia, Europe and Latin America. It could have as many as nine events in the United States. Trump Golf’s club in Northern Virginia has a date, and the owners of The Greenbrier in West Virginia and Blessings Golf Club in Arkansas are both in line for one.
Industry observers say the business model is stronger than most realize and could revolutionize golf as a spectator sport. In an age when golf entertainment is boosting the sport, LIV’s concept could further bring golf to a new generation.
But whether Norman will remain the primary face of LIV remains to be seen. While he was a logical choice to spearhead the venture, he has made some gaffes and lacks the resume to run what could be a billion-dollar enterprise. But for now, he has laid the foundation for a venture that is upending the golf industry.
No. 3: Shin Il Yoo
Chairman, Hankuk Industry
Yoo has been a player in the golf industry for over 30 years, and with the acquisition of PGA West, a joint venture with U.S.-based Century Golf Partners, his stature has only grown. His course catalog includes 25 golf courses in the U.S. and Japan, including Chiba Isumi Golf Club and Yonehara Golf Club in Chiba, Japan, and most recently, the Four Seasons Golf & Sports Club in Las Colinas, Texas.
He has been active since June 2022 as an honorary publisher of Golf Inc. Korea. Hankuk Industry is a South Korean golf equipment distributor, distributing equipment to 16 golf courses in the United States, including PGA West.
No. 4: Yuko Tashiro
CEO/president, Accordia Golf
Tashiro heads up the largest golf course chain in Japan, boasting an array of 132 courses and 26 driving ranges. Tashiro was hired after a prior sale failed and it is unclear what steps the company will next take. As CEO, she has seen the company through many changes, including the recent sale of the company to SoftBank’s Fortress Investment Group, which acquired Accordia Golf in November 2021 for $3.5 billion. The goal of the deal was to diversify the portfolio and funnel customers from its hotel properties to Accordia’s golf courses and driving ranges, which make up 12% of Japan’s golf market.
This influx of capital will allow Accordia to keep expanding and acquire even more properties, further cementing their place as the top golf course chain in the country.
No. 5: Choi Dung-kyu
Chairman, Daebo Group
Choi is chairman of Daebo Group, which holds the annual Seowon Valley Charity Green Concert at Seowon Valley Country Club in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. It is regarded as a large-scale festival, held for 20 years, that changed its view of golf positively and has developed into a global Korean Wave concert that also attracts foreign visitors.
In a recent survey conducted by a sports media outlet, Choi and Seowon Valley Country Club were selected as the number one golf course and the person who contributed to popular culture and charity at golf courses.
And even though the pandemic has canceled the event for two years now, Daebo Group continues to donate and raise donations.
No. 6: Cho Minn Thant
Commissioner and CEO Asian Tour
Cho Minn Thant has wasted little time since the Asian Tour restarted after COVID-19. Jimmy Masrin appointed him commissioner and CEO of the Asian Tour in 2019, but two years without competition left many wondering if the tour could recover. Nevertheless, Cho, 38, helped close the deal with LIV that will bring $300 million to the tour. As a result, it has expanded events into the Middle East and Northern Africa with purses as high as $2.5 million.
The Asian Tour is also in the process of acquiring IMG’s stake in Asian Tour Media, the tour’s broadcast and media sales unit. The tour has partnered with IMG since 2010.
No. 7: Kotaro Tanaka
President/CEO, Pacific Golf Management
Kotaro Tanaka took over Pacific Golf Management in late 2014, moving up from vice president of sales. PGM owns and operates 140 golf courses in Japan. The company has expanded information technology, marketing and sales workforce operations throughout Japan while also being dedicated to purchasing profitable golf courses.
No. 8: Nguyen Thi Nga
Chairman, BRG Group
The Vietnamese golf scene has become one of the most attractive golf tourism destinations in the Asia-Pacific region. This can be attributed to many of BRG Group’s high-ranking golf courses, including BRG Kings Island Golf Resort, BRG Danang Golf Resort, BRG Legend Hill Golf Resort, and BRG Ruby Tree Golf Resort, all designed by golf legend Greg Norman and Nicklaus Design.
Nguyen continues to be an influential player in finance and real estate in Vietnam. BRG Group, which she founded, has developed a number of golf courses, resorts and hotels. She is the only Vietnamese businessperson to be named 2020 Global Trade Ambassador by the U.S. Organization of Women in International Trade for her 30 years of contributing to the development of global business cooperation, especially in furthering the relations between the United States and Vietnam.
No. 9: Yoon Se-Young
Owner, SBS Media Group, and President, TaeYoung
Yoon is a self-made entrepreneur who established TaeYoung Engineering & Construction and SBS Media. He contributed the most to the development of Korean sports industry. In 2004, he became the president of the Korea Golf Association (KGA). He pledged to popularize the game of golf at the time and won unanimously in 2008, leading the development of the Korean golf industry for eight years. He contributed greatly to the popularization of golf through SBS golf and broadcasting.
SBS has been actively broadcasting golf since 1990 and has broadcast live overseas games of Pak Se-ri and Choi Kyung-ju. In 2021, Yoon opened Luna X Country Club with a six-hole unit (6X4=26 holes total), the first challenging golf course in Korea. His daughter, Vice Chairman Yoon Jae Yeon, is in charge of the operation.
No. 10: Choi Jung Hun
CEO, YIDO
Choi is the founder and CEO of Yido, a Korean company that specializes in integrated management for infrastructure and golf courses. Yido recently entered into an agreement with Full Swing to expand their footprint in the Asian market.
The first Full Swing location is expected to open inside Club D Cheongdam, Yido’s high-end indoor golf club in April 2023. Private golf lessons, food and beverage services and shopping opportunities for golf apparel and shoes will be part of the package.
“Through the partnership with Full Swing, Yido will lead the culture of enjoying golf in a fun and new way,” Choi said. “Along with that, the company will expand efforts to nurture aspiring golf players by supporting juniors with social contribution programs and major amateur games.”
No. 11: Le Van Kiem
Chairman, KN Investment Group
KN Investment Group owns several large resorts, including mega golf complexes in Vietnam and Laos. The company developed KN Golf Links Cam Ranh in 2018, which was part of a massive billion-dollar complex on Cam Ranh Bay.
Le was recognized, along with his wife, by the National Assembly of Vietnam for their work in helping to fight the
COVID-19 pandemic, for which Le donated VND 500 billion to the COVID-19 vaccine fund.
