SPORTS
November 7, 2016
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 13
Golf’s landscape has new
look as PGA Tour heads to Asia
By Doug Ferguson
AP Golf Writer
S
DYNAMIC DEFENDER. Caprice Dydasco of the Washington Spirit dribbles the ball during a 2016 Na-
tional Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) match. Dydasco and the Spirit defeated the Chicago Red Stars to reach
the NWSL championship game, but lost that match to the Western New York Flash on penalty kicks after 120
minutes of play ended in a 2-2 draw. (Photo/Chris Colvin, courtesy of the Washington Spirit)
NWSL final featured
stalwart Asian fullbacks
win on her opportunity when Wys made
her only save of the shootout, but D’Angelo
had her teammate’s back. Diana Matheson
tried to beat D’Angelo on the right side of
the goal, but the keeper turned away
Matheson’s shot to give Western New York
the championship.
In the game of soccer, every member
makes vital, if invisible, contributions to
the final outcome. Nowhere is this more
apparent than on defense, where fullbacks
can break up scoring opportunities or feed
midfielders who go on to log an assist or a
goal. Both Erceg and Dydasco were
essential team contributors, and each is
expected to continue to add to their team’s
success during the NWSL’s fifth season.
Continued from page 7
ball, and Williams surged higher than the
other players, heading in the tying goal.
Neither team scored in the handful of
seconds left, leading to the first penalty-
kick shootout in NWSL championship
history. The Flash took the lead in the first
round when Abby Dahlkemper slotted
home her shot and D’Angelo stopped
Krieger’s attempt. Both teams traded
goals in the next round. Then Washington
evened the score when McDonald’s shot
sailed over the crossbar and Katie Stengel
finished her opportunity.
The Flash again took the lead when
Williams made her shot and D’Angelo
saved another. Mewis could not seal the
Khmer Rouge
premier dies at 80
1
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He died in late October of
an illness at his hometown
in
southern
Takeo
province.
In late 1981, Pen Sovann
was removed from power
by the Vietnamese in an
ouster triggered by his calls
for the withdrawal of the
country’s forces from Cam-
bodia. He was imprison-
ment for 10 years in Hanoi.
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HARD
Difficulty
level: Hard
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Sri Lanka cracks down on owners
of elephants taken from wild
Continued from page 16
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#18135
Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
through 9 appear one time each in every row, col-
umn, and 3x3 box.
Solution to
last issue’s
puzzle
Puzzle #71594 (Medium)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
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HANGHAI — To get a sense of how
much the landscape in golf is
changing, consider the Professional
Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour schedule
next year. The Asia swing in October will
have as many tournaments as the Florida
swing in March.
Perhaps this illustrates the suspicions
seven years ago when PGA Tour
commissioner Tim Finchem held a news
conference on the final day of the HSBC
Champions and whispers filled the room
that it was the start of an “Asian invasion.”
That was the first year the HSBC Cham-
pions, billed as “Asia’s major,” became a
World Golf Championship (WGC).
The PGA Tour added the CIMB Classic
in Malaysia the following year. Justin
Thomas won the seventh edition at Kuala
Lumpur this year, and the next day the
tour announced it had a 10-year deal with
South Korean conglomerate CJ Corp. to
sponsor an event in South Korea starting
in 2017 that offers $9.25 million in prize
money. Only the four majors, The Players
Championship, and the World Golf
Championships have higher purses.
Two days later, the PGA Tour celebrated
the opening of a new Asian office in Tokyo.
The PGA Tour Champions is going to
Japan next year, though any regular PGA
Tour event is not on the immediate
horizon. Japan is hosting the Olympics in
2020. Any tournament beyond that likely
would start with the World Cup and the
Presidents Cup.
A week’s worth of Asian developments
got the attention of the players. They now
have the option of playing for $26 million
over three straight weeks, although those
tournaments are halfway around the
world.
“It just seems like we should play at
home, but I’m not sure where the tour is
trying to go,” said Kevin Kisner when
asked about the new tournament in South
Korea. “Obviously, they want to make it
more of a world tour, which is great. We’re
playing for $9.25 million, but not all of us
want to get on a plane and fly over there
and play for it.
“I’d rather have a $9.25 million purse in
Aiken, South Carolina,” he said with a wry
smile because he lives off the 17th hole at
Palmetto Golf Club. “The economy is not
growing fast enough in the U.S. to keep
asking people to throw money at us.”
The Ladies Professional Golf Associa-
tion (LPGA) Tour, ahead of the curve by
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Celebrate Earth
Day everyday!
Reduce w Reuse w Recycle
possible.”
The government is planning to
set up its own pool of captive ani-
mals to be hired out to temples for
ceremonies.
“We have to create a pool of
elephants” for processions, said
Perera, the wildlife minister. “We
are creating a process now for how
to issue permits, how to release
some of the elephant babies” to
temples for their upkeep and use in
processions.
Under the plan, some would be
kept in a so-called elephant
orphanage. But some would go to
families or temples that are
financially capable of feeding and
caring for them.
Some elephant owners say those
who claim mistreatment are acting
on western notions of conservation
and animal welfare.
“Elephants living with us do
better than the animals in the
wild,” said Harsha Dharmawijaya,
whose family has kept at least one
elephant for 96 years. “We scrub
their bodies and bathe them, feed
them, and treat their illnesses. ...
In a way this is a noble act.”
Some critics, however, note that
Buddhism is a faith that preaches
compassion for nature.
“If the Buddha was alive, would
he condone what’s going on? I don’t
think he would,” said Sumith
Pilapitiya, a former World Bank
environmental specialist who ar-
gued that the government should
focus on the welfare of the animals
rather than religious norms.
“In the name of Buddhism ... we
are ill-treating animals,” he said.
PGA HEADS EAST. Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama
poses with spectator ushers for a group photo after
winning the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions golf tourna-
ment at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai,
China, on October 30, 2016. The landscape in golf is
changing, as witnessed by the Professional Golfers’
Association (PGA) Tour schedule next year, which has
an Asia swing in October that will have as many tour-
naments as the Florida swing in March. (AP Photo/
Ng Han Guan)
necessity, just wrapped up a six-
tournament swing through Asia.
The PGA Tour is not headed down that
road, not yet and perhaps not ever. The
tour showed its strength when it remained
fully sponsored domestically through the
2008 recession. The presence in Asia
simply is recognizing where the growth is,
and the tour would be foolish to ignore
that.
Japan is the second-largest golf market
in the world. Paul Johnson, who heads up
international affairs for the PGA Tour,
said it has 14 sponsors that have
significant business in Japan, and so a
Tokyo office makes sense.
Tournaments are one piece of the puzzle,
and Johnson said events outside the
country “energize our fan base.”
“As sponsors globalize, we want to be in
a position to work with them,” Johnson
said. “There is a broader strategy that says
we need to build our business outside the
U.S. If you want to drive business, you
have to be in the marketplace.”
No one is making players travel to Asia
in October, especially after an Olympic
year when three majors were crammed
into a seven-week window ahead of the Rio
Games.
Among those who chose to sit out the
HSBC Champions without injury or ill-
ness were Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson,
Jim Furyk, and Zach Johnson. All have a
history of being willing to travel except for
Johnson, who hasn’t played overseas
(excluding the British Open and a Ryder
Cup or Presidents Cup) in a decade.
Spieth, for example, is soon returning to
the Australian Open.
However, players might feel a need to go
to Asia so they don’t fall too far behind at
the start of the season. Having three
events makes it easier to play in two of
them, particularly if they aren’t eligible for
the HSBC Champions.
“Over here is great,” Ryan Moore said.
“It’s good exposure for golf, it’s good
exposure for the PGA Tour. I’ve won twice
in Asia (both times in Malaysia). I’ve had
success, so maybe I’m the wrong person to
ask.”
Meanwhile, the Florida swing in March
will have only three PGA Tour events next
year because the World Golf Champion-
ship at Doral has moved to Mexico City. It
will be the first time that two WGCs are
held outside the United States since the
series began in 1999.
Times are changing.
Mark your calendar! The AR Foundation’s Annual Scholarship & Awards Banquet will be held April 20, 2017!