… a fantastic story of what it means to play our great sport of golf to some around the world that don’t have the same benefit people in our country have … Zhou Xunshu is an inspiration … and it should make for motivation to …
Read MoreMy golf in China series on ESPN.com
Read the coverage that got it all started.
Read MoreZhou makes remarkable leap into professional golf
That’s the headline of my story for ESPN.com about Omega China Tour golfer Zhou Xunshu, who I have had the pleasure of spending a considerable amount of time with over the past seven months or so. Here’s the first few paragraphs: In 1984, when China …
Read MoreGolf in China: All growing, all new, all raw
Check out my latest for ESPN.com here. A taste: But while buckets of cash can build record-setting golf facilities — at 216 holes, Mission Hills is the world’s largest — and bring in top-shelf talent — the HSBC event boasted the strongest field ever assembled …
Read MoreStill in the rough
The success of golf tournaments in China belies the tepid state of the country’s golf business This story originally appeared in the November 21, 2005 edition of Business China, published by The Economist. Download a PDF version of this story here. by DAN WASHBURN Tiger …
Read MoreHSBC 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.
Read MoreHSBC 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 …
Read MoreHSBC 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 …
Read MoreHSBC 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 …
Read MoreESPN.com’s package on golf in China
ESPN.com, the internet’s sports website of record, is running two stories I wrote about golf in China: • Golf in China grows bigger by the day • Chinese events bring interesting questions At the time of this posting, the package was ESPN.com’s featured story on …
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