(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Top officials of NBO are keen to promote golf in the sultanate beyond the hosting of the NBO Golf Classic the only European Challenge Tour event in the country.
Hasan Shaban NBO's head of government banking told Muscat Daily 'We are looking at various ways to promote the sport in the country. We are in talks with the Oman Golf Committee (OGC) to find the best way to move in this direction.'
Humayun Kabir NBO's general manager of wholesale banking said 'We have already decided to utilise the services of the NBO Classic's tournament coordinator David White who is a PGA pro to activate a programme for six months after the event is over. NBO is open to supporting the national teams' programme for the coming season but we would wait for the OGC to come up with a proposal.'
When reminded that there have been instances of Omani golfers being unable to take part in overseas tournaments or even train regularly at Almouj Golf due to paucity of funds Kabir said 'We would like to jointly work with the OGC and other partners [sponsors] to help golf in Oman and avoid such situations.'
Decision on future by early next year
With the three-year contract between NBO and the European Tour scheduled to end in 2015 talks are on to chalk out the NBO Classic's future course. Without going into specifics Tarratt told Muscat Daily that a decision could be made by early next year. Asked to remark on the NBO Classic's future Kabir said 'We are very happy with the event so far. Talks are going on but it is still premature to make any comment on it.'
The two main options for NBO would be to either renew the existing Challenge Tour deal for another three years and enhance the tournament's reputation by bringing in a golfing star or two as guest players; or to go for European Tour events which would be eight times costlier to host.
The third choice of hosting the Grand Tour Finals of the Challenge Tour may not be the best one since it will feature just the top 45 pro golfers and will give no exposure to any local or regional players.
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