By Mathilda Andersson

If you follow golf, you’ve heard of him. Lending his name to professional golf tournaments around the world through his ISPS group, Dr Haruhisa Handa has endorsed the global golf industry for almost three decades now – simply out of love for the game.

A Japanese businessman and philanthropist, artist and tenor of some fame, Dr Haruhisa Handa is the sole founder of ISPS Handa. The acronym stands for International Sports Promotion Society, which is a fitting description of what the organisation does.

Established in 2006, ISPS Handa has greatly supported Australian golf tournaments for many years, entitling events including ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open, ISPS Handa Australian Blind Golf Open, and most recently the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth tournament conducted at Lake Karrinyup Country Club in February this year. In difference to most other naming right sponsors in the industry, the ISPS arrangements are not seeking any commercial gain for their funding; but rather endorse the game for the game’s sake, and to help develop the game at every level.

Chief Executive Officer of Golf Australia Stephen Pitt has described Dr Handa as “an inspiration to the organisation” and dubbed him the “most significant non-corporate contributor to Australian golf” after he prolonged his support of the Women’s Australian Open.

“The ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open has experienced exceptional growth in recent years, particularly in its international profile as a major women’s sporting event in the Asia-Pacific region,” Mr Pitt said.

“A fundamental part of this excellent period for our national championship has been the support and enthusiasm from our title sponsor International Sports Promotion Society (ISPS) through Dr Haruhisa Handa.

And in women’s professional golf the sentiment is much the same. ISPS Handa continues to be the title sponsor of The ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open and also for a number of years was the title sponsor the ISPS Handa Women’s New Zealand Open. ALPG Executive Director Karen Lunn has acknowledged the importance of the incessant support Dr Handa has given to tournaments over the years.

“Every professional golfer and follower of golf in Australasia owes Dr Handa a huge debt of gratitude for what he has done for professional golf in our region,” Lunn said.

Back in 2013 Lunn publicly expressed her gratitude to the ISPS organisation for their support of the 2013 New Zealand Women’s Open event, and emphasised the significant impact it had on the people of Christchurch after the devastating earthquake in 2011 that left the city in ruins.

“We are very thankful for the support of Dr Handa. With a natural disaster like Christchurch suffered it is amazing that the tournament still went ahead at all but the fact that it has kept the co-sanction status is a great achievement,” she said.

“It is important to have tournaments in this part of the world of this calibre and the higher standard of the European Players makes it a truly international event. It is important for the people of Christchurch because it gives them something to look forward and hopefully something to lift the morale,” Lunn added.

Early this year New Zealand’s former Prime Minister John Key and women’s world number one Lydia Ko became the newest charity ambassadors for ISPS HANDA. Between the years 2008 to 2016 when Key served as prime minister, he witnessed ISPS HANDA’s charity work at the Women’s Open, where Lydia Ko was also the tournament ambassador.

“ISPS HANDA do an incredible job of supporting golf worldwide and I’ve had a lot of fun playing at their event over the years,” said Ko. “I’m excited to be part of the global ambassador team and I look forward to representing its brand on Tour.”

And that’s how Dr Handa rolls. An avid golfer himself, Dr Handa gives his support out of love for the game, and what it does for people. He describes his doings as driven by a “firm belief in the power of sport.

Click here to read full article in GIC e-magazine Autumn 2017