2008 China Tour Guangzhou Championship

A total of 129 players will compete in Guangzhou in the opening event of this year's Tour, which has a record 10 events and a total purse of US$1.1 million.

Zhang Lianwei, who will be defending his Guangzhou Championship title at Dragon Lake Golf Club, said the increasing number of players reflected the growth of the circuit since its inception in 2005, when there were four tournaments.

"When I first played on the Omega China Tour, the fields were made up of between 80 and 90 players," said Zhang, 42, who in 2004 became the first Chinese to play at the US Masters at Augusta.

"It's great that we have a record field in Guangzhou. Overall the number of players and the standard has been increasing year by year."

Zhang, who has won five Asian Tour events and played extensively in Europe, Japan and Canada, said that the burgeoning Chinese circuit was starting to reflect the more established Tours around the world.

"The Omega China Tour is facing in the right direction and is increasingly embracing international standards in all aspects," he said. "However, the fields in international events generally range from 144 to 156 players, so we still have room to grow."

One major reason behind the growing numbers of players is the Tour's new allocation of a limited number of places to foreign professionals resident in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese Taipei. Two weeks ago, a qualifying school was held in Zhuhai for foreign players and saw 10 gain cards for this year's circuit.

In addition to the new foreign professionals, there will also be two invites each from Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and Macau for every event.

Zhang said the new players could pose a challenge to the dominance of the Tour by himself and Li Chao, the Omega Order of Merit winner in 2005 and 2007.

"All new players raise the standard of the tournaments. However, it's not just the foreign players we have to watch out for but the new youngsters in China, what I call the 'New Generation', such as Hu Mu, Su Dong and Ye Jianfeng," said Zhang, who won the Omega Order of Merit in 2006 but finished runner-up to Li last year.

"I did well last year but only played four events on the Tour, and I'm still confirming my schedule for this year."

Hong Kong-born Jovick Lee won the recent qualifying school for foreigners, and is one of a large group of newcomers looking to emulate the likes of Zhang and Li.

"I'm excited to be one of the new foreign players on the Omega China Tour and I'm looking to do well on the circuit this year," Lee said.

"I'm really looking forward to playing at Dragon Lake, which is a fascinating course, and I aim to compete in the rest of the Tour events this year," he added.

The Guangzhou Championship starts on Thursday.

March 12, 2008