2005 China Tour Kunming Leg

An increased field of 98 golfers has gathered in the southwestern province of Yunnan for the second stop of the new domestic circuit. The general consensus is that the US$100,000 China Tour Kunming Leg will be a test of patience and putting, as the tight tree-lined Kunming Country Golf Club course has had its undulating greens cut right back to defend it against the cream of the mainland's golfers.

"The greens are very difficult; all up and down. It's not so much the speed, that's OK, but I think their might be a lot of three putts this week," said Li Chao, the 24 year old winner of the inaugural Beijing Leg last month.

"The greens are the difficult part of the course," agreed Shang Lei, Li's former classmate at the Beijing No 77 Secondary School and, on recent form at least, his biggest rival; Shang won the China PGA League Tianjin Classic last month.

"The shots onto the green are important. It's not only about getting close to the pin, but staying below the hole. You need to study the greens and know where you want to be." Unlike many of the newer American-influenced courses built more recently in China, the Kunming course, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, has a more traditional feel. Relatively short by modern standards at 6,884 yards, it includes numerous doglegs with narrow approaches that discourage would-be corner cutters.

"It's definitely a thinking man's course," said Ye Pengfei, the 26 year old, who featured on the early leaderboard at the Beijing Leg.

"I think the tee shot is still key, because there are trees off every tee and if you get in them it's very hard to recover. You have to use fairway woods and long irons a lot. The second shot is OK, the ball is stopping very quickly, but the greens are very fast. If you're not careful you could easily take three, maybe even four, putts."

With the greens running at 12 on the stimpmeter, around the same speed as the US PGA and the European Tour, putting was also on the mind of one of the more interesting of the China Tour debutants - 37 year old Ouyang Wen - a former national champion in the Chinese martial art wushu, and the coach of the women's team preparing for the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

"From the tee to the green is not so difficult," the Shanghai-based Ouyang said. "But the greens are very difficult. They are very sloping and the speed is very fast."

Greens aside, Li Chao and Shang Lei, both students of Song Liangliang who is now deputy secretary general of the China Golf Association, are expected to be among the challengers on a course that, provided the approach shots continue to hold, should produce some low scores. However Li insists there will be nothing more than friendly rivalry between the two of them if they can both extend their recent form.

"Shang Lei is my good friend and classmate. I am very glad that he achieved such a good result in the China PGA League. Frankly speaking, it's not easy. I think the reason why he won is due to his confidence coming back again this time and he has showed his real capability and skill."

L¡'s own confidence took a small dent, when, after following up his Beijing Leg triumph with a ninth-placed finish behind US Open champions Retief Goosen and Michael Campbell in the Volkswagen Masters, he missed the cut at the Singapore Open.

"It is very regrettable that I missed the cut in Singapore. The reason is that it was my first time on this kind of course with so many challenges and obstacles. I wasn't successful in overcoming the challenge of the Sentosa course, but I have learnt a lot from it. I hope to show my real strength and skill, to achieve another good result at the Kunming Leg.

"Each player shows his skills sometimes good or bad, sometimes ideal or less than ideal in different condition of course. It is most important for player to play with full confidence and good preparation mentally and physically. I do hope I can achieve as good a result in the second leg as I did in the first leg."

September 21, 2005

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