China getting into the swing of world golf

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 25, 2003

China getting into the swing of world golf

Golf - once considered a game strictly for the wealthy - is quickly achieving mainstream status in China.

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Golf - once considered a game strictly for the wealthy - is quickly achieving mainstream status in China.

With the rapid development of the national economy, the standard of living of the Chinese people has also shown dramatic improvement. And that's helped spark a nationwide interest in golf.

The game was introduced to China in 1984. At that time there were only eight courses in the entire country, and most players were foreigners.

Today China boasts nearly 200 courses, and more are being built every year.

Over the past decade, as the game's popularity increased, China has also developed its own elite players, including the "Asian Tiger" Zhang Lianwei.

As an amateur, Zhang, now China's top golfer, won his first title at the 1988 China Open. After collecting the silver medal at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan, he launched his professional career.

In 1995 Zhang joined the Volvo China Tour and became the first Chinese champion at Shenzhen. At the inaugural Volvo China Open he fired a 6-under-par 272 to place third, then finished the season at the top of the money list.

Zhang's outstanding season earned him an invitation from Mel Pyatt, head of Volvo's worldwide sponsorship division, to play in the Volvo Masters and Volvo PGA Championship on the European tour. In the years since, he's won championships at the Thailand and Malaysia Volvo Masters, and defeated world-ranked PGA Tour veterans Colin Montgomerie of Scotland and Nick Price of Zimbabwe at the St Andrews Dunhill Cup.

In 2000, Zhang became the first Chinese champion on the Canadian Tour, and the following year he beat Price again to win the Macao Open.

Other Chinese players have followed Zhang's lead, including Liang Wenchong, who took top honours at the China Youth Golf Championship at the age of 17 and finished eighth at the 2002 Volvo China Open. Another rising star is Cheng Jun, who in 1997 became the first Chinese player to win the China Open.

Volvo has been a stalwart supporter of Chinese golf from the outset, following a pattern the company established when it became the major sponsor of the European Tour in the early 1980s.

In 1995 the company began sponsorship of the China Open and a series of smaller events called the Volvo China Tour.

According to Cui Zhiqiang, secretary-general of the China Golf Association, over the past decade Chinese golf has developed at an unprecedented pace.

"The achievement of golf in China in these 10 years is even larger than it is in other countries through thirty years," said Cui.

Volvo has extended its contract as title sponsor of the Volvo China Open through 2009. And with the likelihood of golf returning to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the game's popularity will surely continue to grow.

"Our aim is to help China raise its position in world golf," said Pyatt.

The 2003 Volvo China Open is slated for November 13 to 16 at Shanghai's Silport Golf Club.

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