— Many Spanish golf clubs work this way: a company buys shares for 20,000 to 50,000 euros and then sells the stock shares to their employees. Is that kind of plan possible in Russia? — In Spain golf is c o n s i d e r e d to be a n o - l o s e p r o p o s i t i o n . T h a t ' s possible in Russia, t o o , but first t h e legal aspects of land o w n e r s h i p have to be defined and only t h e n can decisions be m a d e on h o w to attract financing. W h e t h e r to sell m e m b e r s h i p s , seek i n v e s t m e n t s , take out loans or a d m i t s h a r e h o l d e r s . T h e s e are e c o n o m i c d e c i s i o n s w h i c h d e p e n d o n t h e m u n i c i p a l and city a u t h o r i t i e s . C l u b s can be p r i v a t e , mixed — w h e r e outside clients are invited as well as m e m b e r s ; m u n i c i p a l — built by t h e city; there are even military clubs — after all, golf is an excellent way of relieving stress. At the initial stage of a c c u m u l a t i o n of c a p i t a l , private and m i x e d clubs are the m o s t rational solution. E v e r y t h i n g d e p e n d s on h o w t h e " b u r e a u c r a t s " are going to react. I t h i n k t h a t five years from n o w we'll be seeing all kinds of clubs in Russia. But first the p o t e n t i a l gain i n h e r e n t in k n o w i n g h o w to play golf has to be clearly d e m o n s t r a t e d . — What's
the
budget of the
Golf Association?
— In 2002 it was about $ 5 0 , 0 0 0 , and in 2003 already about $ 5 0 0 , 0 0 0 . T h a t d y n a m i c rise shows s o m e t h i n g ! I t h i n k t h a t in 2004 we'll go m u c h farther. — In an interview in the magazine Golf Times you said that the winner of the prestigious Masters championship in Augusta will soon be a Russian. That sounds, frankly, unbelievable.
— It's said that golf is already popular among top Russian managers. — A m o n g the players at the R u s s i a n W i n t e r C u p t h e r e were leading executives of major c o m p a n i e s . T h a t ' s not surprising. The majority of the t o p m i d d l e - a g e d m a n a g e r s have u n d e r s t o o d t h a t free t i m e d o e s n ' t necessarily m e a n going to a r e s t a u r a n t or a b a t h h o u s e . As for m a n a g e r s of major Western firms — a b o u t 9 0 % of t h e m spend their free t i m e on a golf c o u r s e . O n e w e l l - k n o w n Western e c o n o m i c j o u r n a l published the scores of h u n d r e d s of t o p m a n a g e r s . Just take a look at t h e m — you could invite t h o s e golfers to a R u s s i a n c h a m p i o n s h i p m a t c h — and t h e y ' d walk away with the prizes. — But golf is nevertheless a game for the rich. Can it become popular in a relatively poor country? — We need to get over t h a t s t e r e o t y p e , that golf is a sport for lazy rich people. Our honorary m e m b e r s — Mstislav Rostropovich, Galina Vishnevskaya, S h a m i r T a r p i s h c h e v and Evgeny Kafel'nikov are helping us do that. In 2007 we'll be able to hold t h e E u r o p e a n w o m e n ' s c h a m p i o n s h i p in Russia. I h o p e that several clubs will c o m p e t e for t h e rights to host those g a m e s . G o l f is a s y n o n y m for quality. In R u s s i a we've n o w b e e n t h i n k i n g about quality and in w o r k i n g to achieve it we want to qualitatively improve the level of golf h e r e . — One final question: why was the patron of the Russian Winter Cup the Swedish Princess Birgitta?
— We d o n ' t n o w have a golfer w h o could w i n in a professional c h a m p i o n s h i p m a t c h , t h e way E v g e n y K a f e l ' n i k o v w o n at t e n n i s . I deliberately d o n ' t w a n t to n a m e any n a m e s of p r o m i s i n g players. We started h a n d i n g out p r e m i u m s t o o early on and ruined m a n y of the first t o p g r o u p of t a l e n t e d R u s s i a n golfers. T h o s e w h o showed their skill at the g a m e w e n t off to b e c o m e c o a c h e s w i t h o u t h a v i n g fulfilled t h e i r p o t e n t i a l in t o u r n a m e n t s . The M a l l o r c a c h a m p i o n s h i p g a m e s with the S p a n i s h players showed w h o ' s w h o in golf. The big thing in golf is often t h e ability to hit the ball w i t h one single precisely focused stroke. T h e r e are good g r o u n d s for saying t h a t it's a g a m e of t h e m i n d .
— P r i n c e s s Birgitta was one of the first to b e c o m e an h o n o r a r y m e m b e r o f our A s s o c i a t i o n , w h e n she c a m e t o the R u s s i a n c h a m p i o n s h i p i n 2 0 0 3 and t h a t , of c o u r s e , gave us m o r a l support. T h e P r i n c e s s has b e e n involved with golf for a long t i m e . S o m e forty years ago she even t r a d e d in her royal p a l a c e for a villa on M a l l o r c a and b e g a n playing regularly at Santa P o n s a . G o l f is not j u s t e c o n o m i c s , business and charitable e v e n t s ; it also i n c l u d e s the active i n v o l v e m e n t of well k n o w n individuals and m e e t i n g interesting p e o p l e . All of this is s o m e t i m e s even m o r e i m p o r t a n t t h a n the results of the actual g a m e s .
— At what age should a young golfer be showing good results — if he's going
While Americans tend to say "Two thousand three," B r i t i s h native speftktri sometimes insert "and" in such dates: "Two thousand and three."
to
attract sponsors?
— You may r e m e m b e r t h a t in 2003 the British O p e n was w o n by a virtually u n k n o w n golfer. In this sport everything is highly i n d i v i d u a l : you can win y o u r first t o u r n a m e n t at 30, or at 18, so w h e n a player will "burst o n t o the s c e n e " is hard to predict. 178
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