Time for golf to look East: Liang
"Of course I'd love to have a Major in Asia. It would help to upgrade the overall level of the sport in Asia, and it is a good way to let the US and Europe see that Asia is growing fast," Liang told China Daily ahead of tomorrow's Pine Valley Beijing Open.
Liang Wenchong of China tees off at the seventh hole during the second day of the Hong Kong Open golf tournament in Hong Kong November 17, 2006. [Reuters]
"But ultimately with the Asian PGA Tour or European PGA Tour, the aim is to provide the players with a fine platform for raising their standard."
Liang, who won the Singapore Masters in March and donated his $183,000 prize money to the development of the sport in China, said there were talented local players coming through the ranks.
"But," he added, "we don't just need one good player, we need lots of fine players. We need to have a lot players to choose the best."
"Currently good players like me, we work while we play. We play for our club teams. Now more parents are telling their children what golf is. They are taking their children to golf courses. So I believe more young talents will come through very soon."
Opulent surroundings
With this weekend's tournament taking place in opulent surroundings way beyond the reach of the vast majority of Chinese children, Liang said more attention should be paid to public facilities.
"To my knowledge there are only two public courses in China, in Shenzhen. Of course, having more public courses will help develop the sport and nurture more Chinese players."
Liang's optimism about the state of the sport in China was shared by international competitors competing this weekend.
"The next generation of Chinese golfers, because of the golf boom here in China, are going to be extremely strong," said Australian Scott Hend, who finished third in last weekend's BMW Asian Open in Shanghai and was runner up at the Volvo China Open, also in Shanghai, the weekend before.
"(The young golfers) are starting to show a bit of promise, I've seen a few of them on the range swinging it. All they've got to do now is get more experience of playing at the competitive level."
Hend said Asia was due some more high profile tournaments, but stopped short of suggesting a Major: "My issue is with the World Golf Championship. It's supposed to be the world golf championship but it's pretty much the US golf championship."
The World Golf Championship consists of the Accenture Match Play Championship, the CA Championship and the Bridgestone Invitational. This year all three are being played in the United States.
"The Worlds should be a world thing, not mostly US. It should be played in China, one somewhere else in Asia, and then one in England and one in the States," he added.
Big hitter
Hend's views were echoed by John Daly, a big-hitting American whose colorful personality has made him a popular figure with golf fans across the world.
"It would be nice to see a World Golf (Championship) event here. They move them around so much. One of them anyway, they ought to let China have it," the two-time Major winner told China Daily ahead of his practice round yesterday.
Daly said he was looking forward to playing at Pine Valley after his disappointing showing last weekend at Tomson Pudong Golf Club in Shanghai, where he missed the cut: "Shanghai was nice, but this is a better golf course. The fairways there ran out at about 260 yards, (here) you can hit drivers a lot."
But it will be Liang who will be feeling under the most pressure to win in front of his home crowd, especially after failing to make the Top 30 in his last two tournaments.
"For the last two weeks alone, I was not in good form. But you play lots of tournaments on the Tour in the year and you have good weeks and bad weeks," he said.
"I am still satisfied with my play because I made the cut both times and enjoyed the competition. If you don't make the cut, your play and psychology might be affected.
"I want to play well. The field is very strong, everybody wants to win. But I will try my best."
The Pine Valley Beijing Open is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the China Golf Association. A total of 156 players will compete for the $500,000 purse