2006 China Tour Zhuhai Leg - Round 4: Zhang breaks two-year victory drought

Zhang Lianwei finally ended a victory-drought stretching back over two-and-a-half years when he came from behind for a comfortable triumph in the Omega China Tour Zhuhai Leg. The 41-year-old's last win was in November 2003 in the Volvo China Open, the same year he became the first Chinese to claim a European PGA title.

That success in the Caltex Masters in Singapore was a narrow win over Ernie Els. This time in his hometown he took advantage of Li Chao's fall from grace, shooting a fine three-under-par 69 for an eight-over-par total of 296, turning a six-shot deficit into a six-shot winning margin over Zheng Wengen.

It was also the first time Zhang had claimed the garlands in three attempts on the Omega China Tour and he admitted that he was beginning to lose confidence.

"It feels so good to win," he said.

"I have won in many other places, as far as away as Canada. It's so special for me because it's my hometown, where I am from is only 20 minutes from here, so I am really happy. It's been a long time, maybe over a year, since I decided I wanted to play in the China Tour and to win an event. It was easy five or six years ago if I wanted to win in China, but now is different; the players are much stronger. So I can say my confidence was much higher back then.¡"

Zhang won on a day for the more experienced golfer. Early on while the wind was strong, he balanced bogeys on two upwind holes with birdies when the air streams were more helpful. Then as conditions became calmer he turned on the afterburners, carding four birdies in nine holes in the middle of his round, by which time Li Chao, so steady over the first three rounds, had hit the self-destruct button on his way to a 12-over-par 84.

During the prize ceremony Zhang fielded a call from the man he anointed as China's number one golfer Liang Wenchong, who had just finished 10th in Japan's PGA Championship and wanted to congratulate not only the Zhuhai Leg champion but the caddy, his elder brother Liang Wenjian on his third Omega China Tour win.

"We've proved he is a champion caddy. I found the reason why Liang Wenchong can always win!"Zhang exclaimed.

"Jian is very helpful even though he doesn't talk much but when I looked at him it helped me feel relaxed. Jian is very experienced. 'A Chong' (A is a Chinese term of endearment) just called me to congratulate me. I'm very happy for him too as he got into top 10 in Japan."

Behind Zhang, two more veterans got into the money by riding out what was a war of attrition over four days of wind on the Golden Gulf course. Zheng Wengen and Wu Weihuang, 40 and 38 years old respectively, both shot even par 72s to finish on 14 and 15 over par. For Zheng, the first Chinese player to turn professional 12 years ago, it was his first top-three finish since 2003's Xi'an Classic.

Zhang, meanwhile, used the victor's press conference to criticise some of the pin positions as being unreasonably tough, arguing that they might hamper the development of some of the up-and-coming players.

"The pin positions were so hard that I felt I was playing the US Masters," said Zhang, who became the first Chinese player to tee-off at August two years ago.

"On the first two days they were unreasonably difficult, not like a tournament pin position but a fun position. Those pin positions are killing our young players confidence, as it might be their first pro tournament, after their rounds they might think they can never play well. I hope we can all work together to help the younger players, not to torture them."

However Zhang's comments were countered by tournament director Charles Guo Zongtai, who argued that Li Chao and Shang Lei, who are both in their mid-20s had voiced their appreciation and that the Omega China Tour can't hope to produce players capable of succeeding at a higher level, if he worries about the players at the lower end of the field.

"We are doing this to challenge the young hopes. They play well in China Tour but once they get into bigger events, their performance isn't good. So this time we didn't want to cheat ourselves," said Guo.

"We meant to make the course more difficult, longer rough, harder, faster greens, and difficult pin positions. I cannot order them to play better, what I can do it to set a higher standard for them. Maybe some players complained, but this is the standard. If you go to European Tour or US PGA events, you see this happen all the time. If we shut the door and keep doing it in the old Chinese way, they can never grow; I don't think it's good for them."

Omega China Tour - Zhuhai Leg

Leading Final Round scores (Par 72)

296: Zhang Lianwei 75-74-78-69
302: Zheng Wengen 79-80-71-72
303: Wu Weihuang 73-78-80-72
304: Qi Zengfa 74-73-79-78
305: Li Chao 69-74-78-84
307:Yuan Hao 72-74-86-75
308: Shang Lei 74-78-78-78
309: Chen Yu 83-76-72-78, Xia Zhengrong 79-80-79-71
310: Huang Yonghuan 79-76-80-75, Wu Xujin 80-78-74-78
311: Xiao Zhijin 75-79-83-74
312: Zheng Shaoguang 77-78-78-79
313: Zhang Jun 79-77-82-75
314: Liu Qiang 75-78-81-80, Tan Yongzong 75-80-82-77, Ye Jianfeng (A) 79-78-81-76, Yuan Tian 76-82-76-80
315: Liu Guojie 79-77-85-74, Liu Jian 74-75-83-83, Yang Shengqin 77-79-79-80

May 14, 2006

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