2006 China Tour Hainan Leg - Round 4: Zhang hails victor Liang as China's finest

The godfather of Chinese golf paid Liang Wenchong the ultimate compliment after the 27-year-old completed an emphatic victory, taking the 2006 Omega China Tour Hainan Leg to maintain his perfect record on the circuit.

Liang won his second trophy in his second appearance, carding a one-under-par 71 for a fifteen-under-par four-round total and a nine-shot victory ahead of Zhang Lianwei, who, for the first time publicly, anointed his protege as the mainland's finest player.

"I would like to congratulate Liang from the bottom of my heart. He has brought us four rounds of fantastic golf. I do admire what he did in this tournament and I believe he's the best golfer in China at the moment," declared Zhang, the first Chinese winner of a European PGA Tour event, in a statement of enormous significance.

Those words led Liang to stand up and hug his friend and mentor, before admitting that the win actually felt anything but the cakewalk it appeared to be.

"I was really worried when I started because I know Zhang has broken a lot of records coming from behind to win. Also he played with Tiger last year and finished only one stroke behind him over 18 holes, and he's beaten Shigeki Maruyama before. So with this kind of history, I couldn't even focus for almost half of the front nine," Liang said.

In reality only once did his ten-shot advantage seem likely to be threatened when, amazingly for a player who had carded back-to-back 65s, he made an error that would be more familiar to the weekend hacker. A simple 100-yard approach shot aimed at the 5th green instead sank in the lake that runs parallel to the fairway.

"I shanked the ball, and I still don't know how I did it," Liang explained, still shaking his head in disbelief.

"To be honest I was thinking about how, if I double bogeyed that hole and Zhang birdied it, it would only be seven shots difference instead of 10. That worried me a lot. But after the front nine I pulled myself together and tried to finish with fewer mistakes. I'm happy with the way I finished. It was such a great experience to play with Zhang. We've partnered to play a lot of matchplay events together and we've won so often, but when it comes to strokeplay against each other he is always my target."

Zhang won a tense battle with Li Chao for second place, shooting a final round of 70 to finish on six under par for the tournament. Li fired a 71, but having started on equal terms Zhang was quickly two strokes ahead and never really looked threatened while never truly challenging Liang either.

"To keep playing good rounds of golf like Liang did is not easy," Zhang said. "He really showed his talent. I'm happy for him. To attend two times and win two trophies is amazing. I've tried twice and haven't even won one Omega China Tour trophy. I keep telling myself I have to work harder because I know these tournaments are getting better and better. It's a real big pie for all of us; since we all tried to build up this pie I won't allow anybody or anything to ruin it. This is our pie!"

Li Chao, who took the largest slice in 2005, settled for third conceding his chances were damned after his 76 in the first round and that claiming such a big portion on the 2006 Omega China Tour will not be so easy.

"I think everyone has improved, the tour, the players, myself and others. The rough is longer this year and the course was more difficult, so it will become more and more difficult to win."

Below Li Chao, Yuan Hao recovered from a disappointing third round to finish fourth on two under par. Meanwhile the biggest mover, on a day when preferred lies were in force after heavy overnight rain, was Wu Weihuang who fired a faultless bogey-free seven under par 65.

"I haven't played such good golf for a long, long time," said the 37-year-old from Fujian after climbing from 33rd to eighth place. "After my 78 on Saturday I couldn't even stomach eating anything. I locked myself in my room with the scorecard in my hands, reliving every hole. "What's going on?" I was asking myself. I punished myself with that all night long. I woke up early and practiced very early. All the things turned out right as soon as I started. I kept this momentum all the way to the end. I believe that I can really go low if I just play one shot at a time."

April 9, 2006

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