Liao Guiming wins Omega Order of Merit
Friday, 17th October 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Despite finishing 17th at the season-ending Omega Championship in Beijing last week, Liao Guiming (廖贵明) finished first in this year's Omega Order of Merit, the ranking system for China's pro golf circuit.Liao finished the season with 375,125 yuan in prize money, putting him about 45,000 yuan ahead of second place finisher Zhang Lianwei and more than 100,000 yuan ahead of third-place Zhou Jun. The 31-year-old from Guangxi has played in every Omega event since the tour's inception in 2005. He finished 10th in last year's rankings.
"I'm really happy. Winning the Omega Order of Merit proves I have the ability. I had a great career as an amateur but it took me five years to finally win as a pro," Liao said.
Liao's 17th place finish in the final event opened the door for Li Chao (李超) to overtake him in the Order of Merit, but Li placed fourth in the tournament, leaving him at fourth place overall in the rankings.
Zhou Jun, 24 years old, became the youngest player to win on the tour with his victory at the Omega Championship, which was played at Beijing Longxi Hotspring Golf Club. He shot a six-under total of 282.
Tags: golf, Li Chao, Liao Guiming, Omega China Tour, Zhang Lianwei, Zhou Jun
Liang makes British Open cut
Monday, 21st July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Playing in his third major, Liang finally made the cut at Royal Birkdale with an eight-over-par 148 over the first two rounds. Liang, currently number one on the Asian Tour, shot a 77 and a 74 on the last two rounds, ending with an overall score of 299, 19 over par. He finished in a three-way tie for 64th place.
"I'm happy overall. This is my first time at The Open and I made it through the weekend," Liang said, according to this report from the Omega China Tour. "A tournament like this is a great learning experience. You learn to be patient and I'll take this experience and apply it in future tournaments. I can become better."
Liang competed in last year's PGA Championship and this April's Masters, missing the cut both times. He is the first Chinese player at the Open Championship. This year, he will play in three US PGA Tour events, the Canadian Open, the Reno-Tahoe Open and the Wyndham Championship.
For more on Liang, see this recent Golf Digest feature: Golf in the Year of the Rat
Image: Omega China Tour
Tags: British Open, golf, Liang Wenchong, Omega China Tour, Open Championship
China's top 10 golf courses: Kunming is king
Thursday, 17th July 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Kunming's Spring City Golf & Lake Resort
US-based Golf Digest magazine has released its annual list of what it considers to be the China's top ten golf courses. According to the magazine's editors, if you're looking for China's best courses, forget Shanghai, Beijing or Shenzhen – go west to the laid-back city of Kunming.
The laid-back city of Kunming in southwestern China's Yunnan province took three of the top six spots on Golf Digest's list, here are the results:
1. Spring City Golf & Lake Resort (Lake course), Kunming, Yunnan province
2. Spring City Golf & Lake Resort (Mountain course), Kunming, Yunnan province
3. Sheshan Golf Club, Shanghai
4. Shenzhen Golf Club, Shenzhen, Guangdong province
5. Tiger Beach Golf Links, Haiyang, Shandong province
6. Lakeview Golf Club, Kunming, Yunnan province
7. Jian Lake Golf & Country Club, Shaoxing, Zhejiang province
8. Trans Strait Golf Club, Fuzhou, Fujian province
9. Pine Valley Golf Resort & Country Club (Old course), Beijing
10. Mission Hills Golf Club (Norman course), Shenzhen, Guangdong province
Kunming ended up beating out the big coastal cities with the top two courses – both at Spring City Golf and Lake Resort. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, Spring City's Lake course was named best in China, beating out Spring City's other championship course, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Mountain course.
Kunming reappears at the number six spot on the list with Lakeview Golf Club, which has been the site of the Yunnan stops of the Omega China Tour as well as the Faldo Series Asia.
Shanghai's Sheshan Golf course rounded out the top three.
Shenzhen is the only other city with multiple courses in Golf Digest's top ten – Shenzhen Golf Club was named number four, while Mission Hills Golf Club's Greg Norman-designed course came in tenth.
Image: Spring City Golf & Lake Resort
Related articles:
Lu Wins in Kunming, Young Amateurs Shine
Golf Emerging in China, and an Emerging Chinese Golfer
Tags: Faldo Series Asia, golf, Golf Digest, Greg Norman, Jack Nicklaus, Jian Lake Golf & Country Club, Lakeview Golf Club, Mission Hills Golf Club, Omega China Tour, Pine Valley Golf Resort & Country Club, Robert Trent Jones Jr, Shenzhen Golf Club, Sheshan Golf Club, Spring City Golf & Lake Resort, Tiger Beach Golf Links, Trans Strait Golf Club, Yunnan
Golf Emerging in China, and an Emerging Chinese Golfer
Friday, 20th June 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
This video from Daedalum Films tells the story of Zhou Xunshou, a farmer turned security guard turned pro golfer. His story—he is entirely self-taught and club members laughed at him the first time he asked to hit a tee shot—is an extreme version of a pattern in China's professional golf world, which includes many players who took up the game relatively late in life.
Zhou is currently ranked 14th on China's Omega Order of Merit. He will be featured heavily in "Par for China," an upcoming book by Shanghaiist editor Dan Washburn. Washburn is an American journalist who has been in Shanghai for six years. When the book comes out, it should be the definitive title on the state of golf in China.
Here are links to some of Washburn's other golf stories, all written for ESPN:
Zhou makes remarkable leap into professional golf
Golf in China: All growing, all new, all raw
Golf still an elitist pursuit in China
Tags: golf, Omega China Tour, Washburn, Zhou Xunshou
Golfer Liao Wins Sofitel Championship
Friday, 30th May 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Liao (L) and Zhang at the Sofiel Golf Championship
Liao's win demonstrates how competitive the field is this year on the Omega Tour, China's main professional golf circuit. He is the fifth different champion in five events for the 2008 season. Zhang, Li Chao, Chinese Taipei golfers Lu Wen-teh and Hsu Mong-nan, have all clamied victories.
Image: Omega China Tour
Tags: golf, Liao Guiming, Nanjing Zhongshan International Golf Club, Omega China Tour, Sofitel Golf Championship