HSBC Champions: Golf still an elitist pursuit in China
This story originally appeared on ESPN.com.
by DAN WASHBURN
Sheshan International Golf Club, site of this week’s HSBC Champions tournament, is about an hour west of Shanghai — if you are lucky. The only way to get there from downtown is a start-and-stop ride along the Hu Ning “Expressway,” an overcrowded stretch of asphalt that cuts through a grim part of the city you won’t find mentioned in any tour book. Most spectators are bussed in and bussed out and never set foot outside the picturesque private grounds. And if you were part of that crowd on Thursday and Friday, it would be easy to draw this conclusion: China loves Tiger Woods.
In a nation of 1.3 billion, crowds are not hard to come by. But on a golf course? That’s something new in a country with only an estimated 200,000 people who play the sport, a country that didn’t have a golf course until 1984. The gallery following Woods for the tournament’s first two rounds easily topped 1,000. Some guessed it was closer to 2,000. That’s more than four times the number of fans who followed Ernie Els during the final round of the BMW Asian Open here in May.
HSBC Champions: Ian Poulter’s ‘funny looking pants’
This story originally appeared in the November 13, 2005 edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription only).
by DAN WASHBURN
While the hordes were hovering behind Tiger Woods as he practiced at the driving range Saturday morning, Ian Poulter worked on his putting a couple dozen meters away. There was no crowd surrounding the Englishman, but nearly everyone who walked past him did a double take, stopped and took a photo. Why? Poulter’s pants, of course.
Much has been written about the maverick 29-year-old, his outlandish attire, spiky highlighted hair and reflective sunglasses. And, pants-wise, Poulter brought his A-game to Shanghai — four pairs spun from ornately embroidered Chinese silk.
“A lot have said ‘nice pants’ — the ones who could speak English, anyway,” Poulter said of the fans at the HSBC Champions tournament. “I find it good fun and I don’t want to be boring. There are loads of guys out here who just wear standard stuff, and that’s not what I’m about. I want to be different. And the silk pants were a nice way to do it out here in China.”
11.15.2005, 10:15 PM · Sports, Stories · Comments (1)
HSBC Champions: Tiger who?
This story originally appeared in the November 12, 2005 edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription only).
by DAN WASHBURN
While some 2,000 golf fans weathered rainstorms to track every move of the world’s best golfer Friday in the second round of the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, Yao Guang Mei swept leaves with a bamboo broom. She just might have been the only person at Sheshan International Golf Club who had never heard of Tiger Woods.
“All I know is that foreigners will come here to compete,” she said.
Yao, who lives in a village 30 minutes away from the course, gets paid five dollars a day to work at the club, where a lifetime membership costs $148,000 and furnished villas average $2 million. And she’s happy to do it.
“It looks great,” she said of the grounds. “But all of these big houses look the same. Sometimes I get lost.” Yao stopped to chuckle before adding, “Back home, I don’t get to see much of this modern society. When I got the chance to work here, I was very excited to see all of these new things.”
HSBC Champions: Hope lies on Hu’s slender shoulders
This story originally appeared in the November 11, 2005 edition of the South China Morning Post (subscription only).
by DAN WASHBURN
The boy who has been dubbed the future of Chinese golf spends 11 months of the year in Florida, and he appears equally comfortable conducting interviews in English and Mandarin. Sixteen-year-old Hu Mu, the eighth-ranked junior golfer in the world according to Golfweek magazine, has a lot resting on his slight shoulders, he’s used to it. He’s been the future of Chinese golf since he was 11.
“There is a bit of pressure to be called that,” admitted Hu, who looks toward the ground when he talks and speaks just above a whisper. “There are so many talented Chinese golfers out there. I do want to be the future of Chinese golf, though. I want to inspire other young kids to learn the game in China.”
Hu is the only amateur participating in the HSBC Champions tournament this week at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai. He opened Thursday with a disappointing 6-over 78, closing with a triple bogey in the rain on the final hole.