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| Golf: Li Left to Fight Lone Struggle |
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"No excuses." That was the damning verdict from the China Golf Association (CGA) after another poor showing by the nation's golfers in their national Open championship. Only Li Chao made the cut as celebrated pair Zhang Lianwei and Liang Wenchong both made embarrassing exits. "There are no excuses," CGA vice-secretary Song Liangliang said Friday night. "We have to put a better training programme in place to help the young professionals. "We have done quite a bit with our junior program and have had good results. Now we have to transfer that to the professional ranks." Song revealed they had started preparing an Asian Games team at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, and had already selected 16 players for another training camp. This will be whittled down to four males and three females to go to Doha in December. And Song said they would study the training models of other sports, particularly tennis, which has enjoyed success with Olympic glory and grand slam success in doubles. Song said he was "very surprised" that Liang fared so badly - he finished 11 over par and Zhang three over, which was two shots off the cut. "Liang had been in good form and we expected him to make a statement here. I'm very surprised. And we can't keep on expecting Zhang to carry the flag. It's not fair. We have to bring on other players." Zhang defended the 20 places open for Chinese players, despite some shooting high 80s and even a 93 by amateur Li Xiaoming. "The China Open has a duty to provide opportunities for the young players," said Zhang. "This is their platform. When I was at my peak we were not competing for a million dollars every week and the fields were not as strong as today." Zhang described his premature exit as a "great disappointment" but said it would not affect his mindset as he heads to Shanghai for the BMW Asian Open. "I felt pretty good in my warm-up but it was cold early in the morning and when I double bogeyed my second hole [the par-5 11th], I was always chasing it." Zhang lamented his driving and putting. "I'm not competing with the other guys off the tee," he said. "Some players, like Paul Casey, are at least 30 yards ahead of me." Li Chao will carry the weight of a nation on his 25-year-old shoulders Saturday. But it was the Lone Ranger's heart that was feeling the pressure Friday as he survived a tense bogey-bogey finish for another even par 72. "I thought that would be the cut," he said, before it was announced at one-over. "That last putt meant more to me that winning on the China Tour," added Li, who was the order of merit winner last year. "Making the cut is just the start for me. There is a lot of money and ranking points at stake now. That is very important to me." (South China Morning Post April 15, 2006) |
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