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Liang facing painful week in Shanghai

China's Liang Wen-chong is ready to battle the pain of a wrist injury as he prepares to take on two of the game's Goliaths at the HSBC Champions starting on Thursday.

The talented Chinese, whom many regard as the next torchbearer for China golf, is widely tipped to sparkle amongst the contingent of nine local players in the elite 74-man field at Sheshan International Golf Club.

Liang has been paired with eight-time European Tour number one Colin Montgomerie and world number two Jim Furyk for the first two rounds in the US$5 million event and the 28-year-old is hoping to match them despite the effects of a niggling wrist problem.

"It's a great learning opportunity for us to play with so many world class players in this event. With my wrist problem, I'm going to have less expectations especially playing with Colin Montgomerie and Jim Furyk in the first two rounds. There will be no pressure at all and I'm just going to take it as another pairing. But if I was playing with Tiger Woods, it would be totally different!" said Liang in a press conference today.

The tenacious Chinese is enjoying his career best season with five top-10s on the Japan Golf Tour this season and is presently ranked 16th on the Asian Tour. During summer, Liang enjoyed a terrific run of four top-fives finishes in five tournaments in Japan before hurting his left wrist.

He was overzealous with his practice sessions in his hometown of Zhongshan last week but is ready to grit his teeth this week in search of a lucrative pay-day. "I think I practised too hard on my week off last week but I will have to play on regardless. I'm not taking any pain killers or anything like that," said Liang.

"It's been really good this year. I feel confident with my game but it's unfortunate that my left wrist has been bothering me over the past few months. I'm just going to take it easy and not push too hard to preserve the wrist. I've got a few more events coming up until the end of this year and hopefully my wrist will hold up."

He refuses to be known as the new Chinese number one although Liang is the highest ranked local player on the Official World Golf Ranking at 155th place. Liang has always paid his respect to his mentor, Zhang Liang-wei, a five-time winner in Asia and today was no different.

"I don't want to compare myself to Zhang like what the media is doing now. I only want to see all the Chinese players to do well internationally and not just me alone," said Liang.

Zhang will line up alongside newly crowned European Tour Order of Merit winner Padraig Harrington and 2005 US Open champion Michael Campbell in the opening two rounds.

He recently claimed the domestic Tour Order of Merit title with two victories and with his putting showing vast improvements, he is optimistic of a strong showing.

"I have practised a lot this season because of the six legs on the China Tour and I won two legs and finished second and third as well. That has given me a lot of confidence. My putting is doing fine right now, so hopefully, I can play well this week.

"Liang Wen-chong and Huang Ming-jie are also playing well right now because of the local Tour which has given them a lot of experience. I think this tournament will be a test for them, to see how far they can go," said Zhang.

He said that the HSBC Champions would be a great opportunity for the Chinese to show to the world how far golf has progressed since the first modern-day golf course was built in 1984.

"Golf is being accepted by all walks of people right now. It's definitely better than before. It's not a rich and famous people's game any more. The students and the teenagers or even the career ladies are learning the game. This is very positive for the game and of course, you all know that our universities are going to put golf on as one of the lessons, like what they do in the United States.

"In 1984, we had our first course and now 20 years later, we have over 300 golf courses in China. I think this explains clearly that golf is spreading throughout our society."

November 8, 2006