Peter McCarthy from Go Golfing
The first World Masters Championship was the
brainchild of Peter McCarthy, a 21 year old just fresh out
of university.
GO GOLFING
It began when Peter, shall we say, “bluffed” his way
into a position working for the 1994 World Masters
Games which was an “over 35” multi-sport event,
which was in parts a bit of a fiasco. As Peter tells it, the
cyclists expected the whole city to shut down, Russian
badminton players absconded into the nigh t, and events
ran hours late into the wee morning hours, billets and
board were expected. “The Golfers came – all 1789 of
them. They ate, they drank, they stayed in hotels, and
they bought all of the merchandise before lunch on
the first day.” It didn’t take long for Peter to realize the
potential to start running World Masters Golf events as
a business. In 1996 Go Golfing was born and has become
the biggest outbound and inbound golf operator in
Australia.
GOLFASIAN
I have written about Mark Siegel’s reluctant rise to
the top of Thailand’s golf tourism industry, but until
discovering this event, I didn’t truly appreciate what
great things Golfasian is doing here.
The Golfasian/Go Golfing event demonstrates as
seamless a partnership as you will ever find. The two
operators complement each other perfectly, resulting in
yet again, “Advantage Guests!”
They met by chance when Mark ran into one of the
Go Golfing tour groups in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.
Mark reached out as a courtesy to Peter who told
him about how he had been doing the World Masters
Centara Masters
event successfully for seventeen years on the Gold
Coast of Australia and wondered if it would work
in Thailand. Mark, well on his way to becoming the
preeminent golf tour operator in SE Asia, had the
logistics and relationships with hotels and clubs to make
it work. With a template and a huge feed of potential
participants from Peter, the Centara World Masters was
born.
Peter says, “We love spoiling golfers at the Centara
World Masters. I don’t know any other tournament
where you get a one-hour massage on arrival. We have
30 hospitality staff who look after everything for the
golfers and the non-playing partners. You don’t carry
a bag or line up for a drink all week. Our sponsors love
the event so much they are coming up with more and
more things to make the event more amazing. The
whole town of Hua Hin has signs welcoming golfers and
special offers for the players. It’s humbling to have this
kind of support and hospitality.”
Peter and Mark are onsite personally for the event and
Peter even handles the MC work with the humor and
aplomb of an academy awards host.
Asked what makes this event so much fun, Peter says,
“These events have a pulse, they have a heartbeat, they
create excitement.”
AND WELL THEY DO…
Service is at a unique organic level that I have
experienced only in Thailand. Always smiling and
thoughtful, I won’t begin to try to describe how
comfortable it is. One of those things you have to try,
to be able to understand.
Volume 3 • Issue 40
53