0811OmegaChampionship

China Tour

A Fitting

Finale

There’s a lot at stake at the Omega Championship, the final event of the Omega China Tour 2008 season. HK Golfer reports from Beijing PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID PAUL MORRIS/WORLD SPORT GROUP

Day One

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Zhou Jun, Longxi Hot Spring Golf Resort, Beijing, October 2008 58

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nthusiasm—that’s the thing that strikes you about the players on the Omega China Tour. Or at least it did me when I went to interview the leaders after the first day’s play. First there was Zhou Jun, a 24-year-old waif of a man from Tianjin, who had just come in with a 3-under 69. “Today was my first ever bogey-free round,” he beamed.

“I’m so happy about that. It’s really amazing. I can’t wait to call home.” And then there was Xu Qin, a 27-year-old from Ningbo, who matched Zhou’s score. Dressed in a now-fashionable Argyle sweater and with his heavily-gelled hair sprouting up over the top of his visor, it came as no surprise to learn who his hero was. “Yes, Ian Poulter is my style icon,” he grinned. “It’s important to look good. I like to match my belts and shirts. Poulter is my fashion police.” You could spend a few months covering one of the bigger tours and not get copy anywhere near as colourful as that.

Overall it’s been a good day for the Hong Kong players. Nick Redfern, who occasionally teaches at the Legendary Golf Academy at SkyCity Nine Eagles, was leading the tournament at 5-under a before dropping three shots late on. Nevertheless, he’s a happy chap as he and his wife Yvette, who doubles as his caddie, enter the media centre. “I like being in the red,” he tells the assorted bunch of journos, “especially in China.” It’s a good line, and if any of the mainland media actually understood what he meant they might even consider running it.

Also well-placed is Wong Woon-man. Wong, a former Hong Kong Close Amateur champion WWW.HKGA.COM

who won this year’s HKPGA Order of Merit title got it round in 71; his best ever start to a China Tour event. “Very lucky, very lucky,” was all he would say. It’s nonsense of course. I’ve seen him play. He’s got plenty of game.

We’re no closer to knowing who will win the Order of Merit race after the two main protagonists—Li Chao and Liao Guiming—both shoot 72. Li, a strapping lad from Beijing who has already pocketed two China Tour Order of Merit titles, needs to win the tournament to stand any chance, while Liao, a laid-back guy from Guangxi, can wrap up his first with a solid finish this week.

Li has earned a bit of a reputation on Tour for being a miserable old so and so, but I think that’s a little harsh. I sat next to him during the Pro-Am dinner and he was very courteous. The word from the organizers is that he’s just very shy, so he can come across as a bit stand-offish on occasion. This might explain why he has so far refused to leave China and chance his arm on the Asian Tour fulltime. It’s a shame because he’s clearly a wonderful player. I did learn something interesting about Li after watching him play the final few holes of his round though: he swears in fluent English— and very loudly.

Day Two Xing Xiao-xuan is not a name many will know— or be able to pronounce, for that matter. But the news today is that ‘Triple X’ (a brilliant nickname coined by the organizers) shot a 68 to share the halfway lead with Zhou. Triple X is a tall, athletic guy with a swing to die for. He really looks the part and it will be interesting to see whether he has the mettle to hold on to his lead over the weekend.

Beijing boys (from top): Li Chao and Liao Guiming face off for the Order of Merit title; HK-based Nick Redfern enjoyed a fabulous start.

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shoot really low numbers. They have to experience getting to 6-7-8-under par, and they’ve go to feel comfortable doing it regularly. You can’t make those kinds of scores on this course.”

Final Round

The scoring hasn’t been great today. Hong Kong’s James Stewart continued his poor run of form and missed the cut, which was very disappointing, but no-one has really gone out and posted a really low number. 68 was as good as we got. But there’s a reason for this: the Longxi course, although not especially fearsome off the tee, has been set up borderline scary. The putting surfaces, with their big Hollinger-designed slopes (see page 32), are running really quick. Miss the green and you’ve got one hell of a difficult chip.

Find the green and you’ve got one hell of a difficult putt. Although describing them as Augusta-like is pushing it a little, there’s no doubt the field is finding them tough to negotiate. I suppose this is the end of year event, but let’s face it: on a developmental tour you want to see low numbers.

Over-par scores, regardless of the difficulty of the course, don’t look good.

Nick Redfern slips down into a share of sixth after a 76 while Wong Woon-man is now in a tie for eleventh after carding the same score.

Ja s o n Rob e r t s o n , w ho teaches at IYGL in Causeway Bay, carded a 73 to move up into t he top-25, but otherwise it was a day for Hong Kong fans to forget.

Day Three Saturday is traditionally referred to as “moving day” but the continuing toughness of the course means that players scoring in the mid60

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70s remain pretty much where they started off.

There were no scores in the 60s at all, which is almost much unheard of in professional golf.

But don’t be fooled: the standard of play on the China Tour, among the top fifty players at any rate, is very good indeed. It’s just a combination of tricky pin positions and quick greens that’s preventing anyone from having a real run.

Nevertheless, young Zhou and Chan Yihshin from Taiwan have opened up a bit of a gap at the top of the leaderboard. Zhou, with another 72, is holding his nerve superbly and has a two shot lead at 5-under. Chan’s 70—a brilliant score under the circumstances—is the low round of the day and puts him five shots ahead of Triple X and Wu Kangchun in third. You have to like Zhou’s chances, and the fact that he wore a pair of luminous orange trousers during the round makes me think he has the confidence to pull this off.

The Order of Merit battle takes another turn after Liao, struggling with a stiff neck, plummets down the field after carding an 81. Li has to win the tournament to stand any chance, and at 3-overpar and eight shots back of the leader, it looks unlikely. But stranger things have happened.

The great news from a Hong Kong point of view is Jovick Lee’s even par round of 72, which lifts him twenty spots into a share of twelfth.

Jovick, a teaching pro at Fanling, is using his tour card to test himself under real tournament conditions. He’s only been to a few events this year, but he’s full of praise for the whole concept of the China Tour. “It’s an incredibly well-run tour,” he says. “To be able to play competitive golf against excellent players on a regular basis is an fantastic experience. It really shows you where you are with your game. If you’re not playing under pressure, you really have no idea how good you are.”

James Stewart makes a valid point, however.

“The courses should be set up much easier,” he says. “These young guys have to learn how to WWW.HKGA.COM

A star is born. Zhou Jun, the kid who wanted to call home and tell his parents about his first bogey-free round at the beginning of the week, has annihilated the field, finishing at 6-under, a massive seven shots clear of Wu Kangchun in second.

“I can’t believe it,” says Zhou, who nearly triples his earnings for the year by picking up the RMB187,500 winner’s cheque. “I can’t believe I played so well.” But he did. Quite frankly, he looked like a winner long before he sunk the final putt. Powering drives down the middle of the fairway, fizzing irons shots into the greens— he seemed completely in control the whole way around. And he’s fun in the press conference too. “I didn’t sleep too well because I was up late playing cards with my coach,” he says. “I ended up losing to him, but he said that’s OK because it meant I would go out and win today.”

Time will tell if Zhou turns into the complete package, but his win at the Omega China Tour’s richest event of the season is the result that everyone craved. This is a Tour that was set up to find the next generation of mainland players, and in youthful Zhou they might well have discovered Liang Wenchong’s successor. Inviting the Taiwanese and opening up the fields to Hong Kong and Western pros based in the Greater China region, a decision made in late 2007, was absolutely the right thing to do—it strengthens the fields and provides a more cosmopolitan playing environment. But the mission from the start has always been straightforward: China golf needs winners. And in the Omega China Tour they have the perfect platform in which to achieve that.

Omega odyssey (clockwise from top): Zhou holes a crucial putt on day three; Wong Woonman struggles after a bright start; Jovick Lee in action; trendy Xu Qin at a postround press conference; Jason Robertson lets one fly.

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SCORES 1 Zhou Jun 2 Wu Kangchun 3 Chan Yishin 4 Li Chao 5= Fu Xin Chen Xiaoma He Shaocai 8= Xiao Zhijin Xing Xiaoxuan 10 Liu Anda

PRC PRC TPE PRC PRC PRC PRC PRC PRC PRC

282 289 290 291 293 293 293 294 294 295

(69-72-70-71) (72-70-76-71) (72-71-70-77) (72-74-73-72) (72-75-73-73) (71-77-72-73) (75-77-75-66) (73-74-74-73) (73-68-77-76) (76-76-73-70)

17 19 27 41

HKG HKG HKG HKG

298 299 302 305

(76-73-76-73) (70-76-76-77) (75-76-72-79) (71-76-79-79)

Jason Robertson Nick Redfern Jovick Lee Wong Woon-man

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