Omega Championship - Stars provide glamour, greens create clamour

Legendary Kung Fu movie star and director Samo Hung Kam-Bo (Pinyin name - Hong Jingbao) and pop singer Richie Jen Hsien-Chi (Pinyin name – Ren Xianqi) provided the glamour while the difficulty of the course created the conversations on the eve of the Omega China Tour's grand finale – the 2006 Omega Championship.

Samo Hong, who is as well-known to Chinese movie goers as his friend Jackie Chan and best-known to Western audiences for fighting Bruce Lee at the start of Enter The Dragon early in his career, joined Jen, Zhang Lianwei and Liang Wenchong for a ceremonial tee-off at Beijing's Tianan Golf Club.

"Golf is such an untouchable game. I can do a lot of action movies for my living, but over the past seven years I realised that the golf swing is far harder than my back flips," said the acrobatic 56-year-old, who is widely credited with revitalising Jackie Chan's career as his producer and co-star in the 1984 movie Project A.

"If I had a chance to start all over again I'd rather be a golfer than an action movie star. I always wanted to play with the top guys like Zhang Lianwei and Liang Wenchong. It's a great opportunity for me to learn from them. One tip over 18 holes I more than enough!"

Unlike Hong, Richie Jen, whose hobbies range from skiing through to motorbike and car racing, revealed that he had not been bitten by the golf bug, even though he studied the sport before embarking on his career as a singer and movie star.

"I majored in golf at the Chinese Cultural University in Taipei. At that time, I never even got a chance to swing a driver. I only played with irons. Hopefully, I can learn how to use the driver this time. Golf to me is very new and this is a great chance for me to learn from a lot of good players."

Among those players, talk was almost exclusively of how tough the set-up of the Tianan course is. Tournament Director Charles Kuo Tsung-tai's claim that the conditions are as tough as anything he's seen at the US Open or The Players Championship at Sawgrass. With the greens running at a rapid 11 on the Stimp Meter, few were ready to disagree with him.

"The greens are trouble – very, very firm. It's very difficult to stop the ball. It's just like the US PGA Tour. Trouble! Trouble!" exclaimed Huang Mingjie, the 25-year-old who has been the revelation of the 2006 season.

"We really do feel like we're playing on the American circuit. Downhill, if you touch the ball really gently it will run for 10 yards. But I'm very excited. This is the most difficult course since the Omega China Tour started. It's a great challenge for the players. It combines all the difficult aspects of all the other courses; long rough like the Shandong Leg, fast greens – even faster than the Zhuhai Leg. Believe me the greens are much faster than Zhuhai or Shandong. But it's good to learn, and that's why I'm excited."

As well as thick rough and narrow fairways, the players, who've spent much of the year playing in 30-degree heat, are suddenly faced with temperatures that rapidly drop into single figures the moment the sun disappears.

"I've been wearing leg warmers!" exclaimed Shang Lei, another 25-year-old.

"We've come from Guangzhou, where we were wearing short sleeves. It's very uncomfortable suddenly having so many clothes on. I'm from Beijing, I should be used to it, but I've been living in Shanghai for five years. The Shanghai winter is much shorter than Beijing. It is 20-something degrees in Shanghai now. This is like the coldest part of the Shanghai winter."

Shang and Huang both come from the same generation of players as Li Chao, who still holds a slim chance of wrestling the Omega Order of Merit from the hands of Zhang Lianwei. Realistically Li, who won the crown in 2005, needs to win and hope for an uncharacteristically low finish from the legend of Chinese golf. Unfortunately for Li, another of the veterans, 38-year-old Wu Weihuang, is convinced that the Tianan course favours his generation.

"I think it'll suit the more experienced guys, because you have to think about how to save par on this course, rather than thinking about attacking for birdies. You have to wait for the right opportunity to card a birdie," Wu said.

"It's going to suit the players who hit straight; the guys who control the ball well. It's not a course for long hitters. You have to be accurate and patient. You can't be surprised if you make a bogey out there."

Shang Lei also pointed out another factor that favours the veterans.

"The weather is going to be difficult. It may be windy as well as cold," he said.

"The wind will affect the tee shot and with the rough this long if you miss the fairway it will be very difficult. If the weather changes a lot, I'm not sure that the younger players can cope and adjust. That might suit the more experienced players too."

October 25, 2006

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