China amateurs to take on pros at Luxehills

Seven members of the China National Team – including a saxophone-playing 14-year-old – are among the field for this week’s Luxehills Golf Championship in Chengdu, which marks the resumption of the Omega China Tour following a three-month break for the Olympics.

Teenage prodigy Benny Ye Jianfeng and Chengdu-based Zhang Xinjun are two of the leading lights in China’s amateur national squad, which has been invited by the China Golf Association to compete in the RMB800,000 event as part of their preparation for next month’s World Amateur Team Championships in Australia.

The 16-year-old Ye is making his second appearance on this year’s Omega China Tour, having already made headlines when he finished runner-up to Asian Tour star Lu Wen-teh of Chinese Taipei in the Kunming Championship in April.

“It’s great being here in Chengdu with all my friends from the National Team,” said the energetic Shenzhen-based student, who also finished fourth in last year’s Sofitel Golf Championship in Nanjing.

“I want to get a good score this week. However, I’m not thinking about winning because I haven’t played many tournaments in the last few months. I’ve recently been on school holidays so I mainly just practised,” added Ye, who in June won the Tianjin leg of the China Amateur Tour.

The 21-year-old Zhang, who last year moved to Chengdu, has enjoyed a great year in which he has emerged as one of the country’s most exciting prospects.

In May, he was one of only four Chinese players to make the cut in the US$1 million Pine Valley Beijing Open on the Asian Tour, alongside experienced pros Zhang Lianwei, Li Chao and Fan Zhipeng. He then beat a host of China’s top pros when he won the RMB2.1 million China Pro-Am in Beijing.

Two 26-year-olds are the eldest members of the squad, who travelled to Chengdu from Nanjing after a five-week training session. The 1.86m tall David Wei of Jiangsu province won twice on last year’s China Amateur Tour, while Kevin Huang Wenyi of Jiangxi province won the Southern China qualifying school for last year’s Volvo China Open.

Huo Wei, who is based at the world-famous Mission Hills Golf Club, is the next eldest member at 24 and was the winner in the Hainan leg of this year’s China Amateur Tour.

Zhao Xiongyi, like Ye, is only 16 and is actually based in Seoul, where he’s completing his studies.

However, the real baby of the team is Andy Liu Yuxiang, the 14-year-old saxophone-playing student. Born and raised in Dalian, in the northern province of Liaoning, Liu is the only squad member making his Omega China Tour debut this week.

On the professional front, Chengdu’s Huang Mingjie – who recently became a proud father – will carry the hopes of the local crowds along with female pro Yang Taoli, who is making her second appearance on the Tour after gaining enormous exposure by finished tied 19th in the Shanghai Championship in May.

Liao Guiming is also among those looking to benefit from the absence of Zhang Lianwei, whom he beat in a play-off for the Sofitel Golf Championship in May for his first win on Tour.

Zhang, who leads second-placed Liao in this year’s Omega Order of Merit, and Li Chao, the money list winner in 2005 and 2007, are both flying the China flag in this week’s Omega European Masters in Switzerland.

The inaugural Luxehills Golf Championship, which was postponed from its original June dates due to the Sichuan Earthquake on May 12, will be held over the testing 7,335-yard, Mark Hollinger-designed layout at the Luxehills International Country Club.

Luxehills, which announced its title sponsorship of the event earlier this year, is fast gaining recognition as one of China’s top golf clubs and next month will play host to the country’s Ninth National Golf Clubs General Managers Conference.

September 2, 2008

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