Golf Industry Central Spring 2014 | Page 5

Industry News AN INSIGHT WITH TIM TRINKA Singapore: Asian Golf Industry Federation (AGIF) President Tim Trinkahas expressed his belief that golf’s readmittance to the Olympic fold ‘will have a positive impact on growing the game in the region’. In a wide-ranging interview on the HSBC Golf Business Community website, titled An Insight with Tim Trinka, the Seoul-based lawyer shares his thoughts on the state of golf in Asia. Team event and Thailand’s Danthai Boonma claiming the bronze in the men’s individual stroke play. In the women’s individual stroke play competition, Asia swept the board with Lee So-young (Korea), Cheng Ssu-chia (Taiwan) and Supamas Sangchan (Thailand) winning the gold, silver and bronze respectively. Trinka said: “Our hope is that those outstanding efforts will prove to the doubters that Asian countries are capable of producing players who can bring glory to their countries by winning Olympic medals. Asked specifically how the inclusion of golf in the Olympics will affect attitudes to the sport in Asia, Trinka said: “Many of us in Asia see this as an incredible opportunity to introduce golf to a far wider audience than we usually have access to. “Once Governments see that then the prospect of them getting behind the game will increase, both in terms of funding to develop players and coaches and also to allocating plots of land that are unsuitable for residential or industrial use and turning them into low-maintenance public courses.” “Based on the performances of Asian players at last month’s Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, there’s good reason to expect to see greater support for the game both from Governments and the corporate sector.” In the interview, Trinka also discusses the opportunities and challenges facing the AGIF and explains his vision as to how golf can become a more appealing sport across the region. In all, Asia won five of the nine golfing medals on offer in Nanjing with Korea taking the silver medal in the Mixed To read the full interview with Trinka, please visit www.golfbusinesscommunity.com Seeking a job in the Golf Industry? Interested in finding the right staff? We have a full range of job seeking and recruitment services. www.golfrecruitmentcentral.com.au www.golfrecruitmentcentral.com.au Golf Industry Central Spring 2014 3