Golf Central

The vast mystery that is China has been opening its eyes to golf, and opening the eyes of the rest of the world in the process. Two weeks ago, the HSBC Champions in Shanghai boasted the strongest field in Asian history. And Omega has a deal to stage the World Cup of Golf in Shenzhen for the next 12 years. What's up with all this golf in China? ...

Here is a brief guide - in great deal thanks to the tireless efforts of China-based golf tracker Dan Washburn, whose forthcoming book on the rise of our game in the world's most populous nation promises to be a must-read.

Golf in China is younger than Tiger Woods:

Only recently opening its arms to the Western world, China didn't open its first golf course until 1984. Tiger, however, came into the world nine years earlier, in 1975.

The country didn't have its first teaching golf professional until 1994. Now, there are more than 350 courses throughout China, with another hundred or so on the horizon. The boom of the game in China parallels the rise of golf in the United States at the turn of the last century ... In other words, look out.

The world's biggest golf complex is not where you'd expect it:

No, it's not Pinehurst, it's Mission Hills in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, southern China, which last weekend hosted the World Cup won by Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren. Mission Hills has a whopping 216 holes over stunning hillside scenery (beating Pinehurst and its 180 holes).

The 12 world-class courses bear their own unique qualities and terrain, and have all been laid out by golf legends from Nicklaus, Norman and Faldo, to Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Jose Maria Olazabal and Annika Sorenstam.

Which Chinese are playing golf:

The country's nouveau-riche, of course. But surprisingly, a large number of Communist officials and government bureaucrats have embraced the game, which was forbidden for years as the "green opium" of greedy capitalists. That doesn't stop Chinese politicians from hitting the links ... however, they do it mostly in secret. It's all so hush-hush that even Zhang Lianwei, China's top-ranked tour pro, fears talking about officials playing golf, because the topic is too "sensitive."

Which Chinese are not playing golf:

There are now an estimated 1 million Chinese playing golf, and while that sounds an impressive figure, think again. China's population, mostly rural and poor, is so massive that 1.299 billion Chinese are not playing golf, and likely don't even know what golf is. Those who do know about the game probably can't afford to pay $60 a round - a pittance to Western golf tourists, but a fortune to a peasant farmer.

What is the country's professional tour like?:

The Omega China Tour needs help. The fledgling circuit scuffles to put together a slate of 10 tournaments offering prize purses of around $100,000. But Chinese companies seem indifferent to sponsoring events and players, and the tour gets virtually no TV exposure, having to pay Central China Television to have a one-hour highlights programme broadcast late at night once a week.

China's best players need work too, hovering around the talent level of regional tour pros in America, such as the Hooters Tour. These pro athletes also face nightmare visa problems simply in order to compete outside China, a problem not shared by China's ping-pong players, for example, who compete in an Olympic sport. The Olympics are important to Beijing: Golf is not, at least yet.

China's pro golfers are a fascinating bunch:

Zhang Lianwei was the first Chinese player to compete in the Masters, in 2003, shot 77-72 to miss the cut by one shot, and he walks and talks the part of a Tour pro. He's teed it up three times with Woods and even named his three-year-old son Tiger Zhang. He and Liang Wenchong were the only two players from China to make the cut in the star-studded HSBC event in Shanghai.

But Zhang and Liang teamed up last weekend to acquit themselves well in the World Cup at Mission Hills, finishing in a tie for 11th at 17-under par, splitting $92,000, and topping more polished duos from countries like Australia, Japan, Finland, and former champions Wales.

There are other characters in China's cast of tour pros, as well: There is Liu Anda, the Chinese Zach Johnson, a devoted Christian and former sushi chef; Wu Kangchun, who was so bad at school he couldn't think of anything else to do but learn golf; Yuan Tian, a former acrobat who wanted to be the next Bruce Lee; Qi Zengfa, who has had so many second-place finishes he's become the China Tour's Phil Mickelson; and Li Chao, a 6-foot-3 bomber who is tipped to have enough game to make it on the Asian or Japan Tours.

The amazing story of Zhou Xunshu:

One of the great tales told by Washburn details the extraordinary rise of Zhou (pronounced like "Joe"). At age 22, the peasant farmer and coal-hauler from central China had never heard of the word "golf." In 1995, he got a job as security guard at a course in Guangzhou. Given a chance to swing clubs by visiting Ping respresentatives, Zhou whiffed his first three shots, then drilled a blinder. He was hooked.

Self-taught, and practicing with self-made clubs, Zhou was good enough by 2003 to quit the security force and become a golf pro. At age 35, Zhou is now the 22nd-ranked professional player on the China Tour.

The Par for China story:

An American expat journalist living in Shanghai, Dan Washburn has been following the Chinese golf scene for several years and tracking its growth. He is currently writing a book, soon to be published, called Par For China: Golf and a Growing Nation.

Excerpts of Mr Washburn's excellent writing have been serialised in an outstanding feature package on ESPN.com, and you can read more of Washburn's adventures in China on his blog. Well done, Dan.