asian amateur
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Augusta Bound South Korea’s Han Chang-won prevailed at the inaugural Asian Amateur Championship to book his ticket to the 2010 Masters 18
HK Golfer・Dec 2009/Jan 2010
HKGOLFER.COM
ithout doubt the most important amateur golf tournament to ever take place in Asia – and a clear illustration of the growing importance golf’s hierarchy places in this part of the world – the Asian Amateur Championship, which was devised by Augusta National Golf Club in harness with the Royal & Ancient, went the way of the softly-spoken Korean whose almost flawless swing and sublime putting touch make him a prime candidate to join the likes of KJ Choi and Yang Yong-eun as one of Asia’s leading lights. Wit h t he win ner receiving a coveted invitation to tee it up at next year’s Masters, 17-year-old Han revelled in the soft conditions at the Jack Nicklaus-designed World Cup Course at Mission Hills Golf Club, firing a four-day total of 276 (12-under-par) to triumph by five shots from compatriot Eric Chun. Both Han and Chun also gained exemptions into International Final Qualifying for the British Open. “It feels fantastic and I can’t wait to play in the Masters,” said Han, who somehow manages to squeeze in five hours a day of practice despite being a full-time student. “I know I’ll need to improve my concentration – I was a bit nervous at the end of the round despite my lead – but it’s wonderful. I never thought I could ever play at Augusta as an amateur. It would be a dream come true if I get partnered with Tiger Woods.” Hong Kong had six representatives in the elite tournament – Steven Lam, Liu Lok-tin, Terrence Ng, Shinichi Mizuno, Jason Hak and Roderick Staunton – and while we’re still waiting for a second local golfer to make it into a Major championship field (the first and so far only was Jock Mackie, who played in the 1959 Open at Muirfield), Staunton and Lam in particular proved they weren’t out of their depth by making the halfway cut. Indeed, 16-year-old Lam, with opening rounds of 70 and 71, was placed inside the top-10 before weekend rounds of 75 and 76 pushed him into a tie for 30th at four-over-par by tournament end. Staunton finished two shots further back in a share of 37th. “The big difference was putting,” said Lam, who was paired with the eventual winner over the first 36 holes. “He [Han] took advantage of his good shots by holing the putts afterwards, which was something I wasn’t able to do this week. I’m disappointed with the way I finished but it’s great to play with the very best players in the region. I learned a lot.”
HKGOLFER.COM
Steven Lam Roderick Staunton
Final Scores 1 2 3= 6 7 8= 10
Han Chang-won Eric Chun Kim Meen-whee Peter Spearman-Burn Jordan Sherratt Matthew Giles Mohammed Ismail Jonathan Woo Tomoya Tokunaga Judson Eustaquio
KOR KOR KOR NZL AUS AUS MAS SIN JPN PHL
30= 37=
STEVEN LAM HKG RODERICK STAUNTON HKG
66-69-71-70 74-68-66-73 75-68-68-71 69-68-73-72 68-67-74-73 71-71-73-68 70-72-71-71 70-74-70-71 74-72-68-71 68-76-70-72
276 281 282 282 282 283 284 285 285 286
70-71-75-76 71-77-75-71
292 294
HK Golfer・Dec 2009/Jan 2010
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Allan Gormly, Chairman of the R&A, Billy Payne, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, Kwang-soo Hur, President of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, and Dominic Wall, Tournament Director of Asian Amateur Championship, pose for the media after a news conference ahead of the Asian Amateur Championship.
Player Steals the Show a long time, and a lot of practice and many hard years of work to be able to go to those tournaments.” • “It’s costing too much money to maintain the golf courses. We’re building the golf courses too long, because the golf ball is going too far, so the costs are going up instead of going down…and it’s stopping the number of people that are playing. So it is critical we cut the ball back for professional golf, 50 yards. Leave the technology for the amateur.” • “We have to build golf courses for the people. We have to change. Change is the price of survival. We cannot go on in the golf business as we are now. We have to get more people playing, more people out, more children playing, and we’ve got to change our whole concept.” One of the highlights of the week was a lengthy, wide-ranging press conference dominated by nine-time Major winner Gary Player, who travelled to the tournament as a guest of Augusta National. Player, now 74, touched on subjects from Kau Sai Chau (which he designed) to the continuing troubles in the Middle East and at one point pleaded with the mainland golf media to never change their diets. “The greatest threat to the Western world is obesity, not war,” boomed the super-fit South African, who at one point stood up and repeatedly hit himself in the stomach to prove how important exercise is to the human psyche.
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HK Golfer・Dec 2009/Jan 2010
Here are a few excerpts: • “I’m very proud to have designed 36 holes at Kau Sai Chau. When I finished with it, I felt so gratified, like I really contributed to society knowing that it was something not only for the rich. It was something for everybody.” • “I’ve traveled a long way to come (to the Asian Amateur) because this is an important week for amateur golf, not only in Asia, but actually in the world…I hope players realize how lucky they are, because they’re possibly going to the two best golf tournaments in the world (the Masters and the British Open). It took me
• “The world is running out of water quickly. By the year 2025, the world will be short of 20 percent of water. The water is one of the greatest problems facing the Earth right now.” • “The greatest threat to the Western world is obesity, not war. (The Chinese) don’t have the high animal protein, fat diet. This is what I eat almost every day: rice, vegetables, mushrooms, fruit and juice, and nuts. We all live on bacon, sausages, milk, white bread. We live on all the stuff that’s detrimental to your health. So I beg the Chinese, eat like Chinese, not Westerners.”
HKGOLFER.COM