SPORTS> China
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SPORTS> China
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Feng ready to shine in LPGA spotlight
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-24 11:16 One year ago, LPGA rookie Feng Shanshan embarked on a run of nine missed cuts in 10 events that suggested the Chinese teen may have graduated to the world's premier women's golf tour a fraction too early. Now the 19-year-old Guangzhou native is starting her sophomore season with the aim of proving her detractors wrong by clinching her maiden victory. And she has the world's largest banking group behind her.
HSBC made an unusual announcement this week by stating that even if Feng had not qualified for the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore next month via her (final) position on the 2008 LPGA Money List, the bank would have saved her a spot simply out of respect. "It's not our usual business practice to discuss contingency plans or to make public our behind-the-scenes discussions," explained Giles Morgan, HSBC Group's head of sponsorship. "But we made that statement to show how much we respect what Shanshan has done for women's golf in China and for the girl's currently developing their game as part of the HSBC China Junior Golf Program." Having cashed just four meagre checks from finishing weekend play nearer the back of the field than the front, Feng (Jenny to her friends and competitors) suddenly exploded onto the scene last July. She finished fourth at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic and the LPGA State Farm Classic in successive weeks, and was runner-up one shot behind Angela Stanford at the Bell Micro LPGA Classic. Feng ended the season with five top-10 finishes to rank 36th on the money list. "At the beginning of last year everyone was thinking, 'Oh, Jenny's just struggling'," she said. "I missed 10 cuts in 11 tournaments (including the 2007 US Open), and everyone was thinking, 'Oh she's not doing well and she's not going to come back.' But I didn't worry about it too much because I knew I still had time," Feng added before explaining how her target has shifted from just trying to survive four rounds of play. "My next goal is to win a tournament. Once I (do this) I'll switch to another goal," she said. "I like to take things slowly and work towards smaller goals, not ones that are very far away. "I'm still only 19. I know I have many chances (to win)." Now Feng is being credited with breathing life into the women's game in China by inspiring others to follow her lead. "Money can't buy what she has done for the girls playing in the HSBC National Junior Championship events in China," said Morgan. "There's an added belief and an extra enthusiasm because Shanshan has proved that what the girls dreamed about is actually possible; not only is it possible, it's not necessarily 10 years away." Feng herself was inspired by Zhang Na's multiple wins in the 2007 season on the Japanese Tour. Having a fellow teenager suddenly throw herself into contention for the US LGPA Tour made her re-calibrate the scale of her ambitions, she said. The Shanshan-effect will increase exponentially if and when the nine-time amateur winner in China succeeds on the US Tour. "Eventually, she will win," said Jay Chang Jong-Whan, the Korean CEO of Feng's management company HSMG. "I don't know when it will be, but she's getting closer and closer." Feng's American caddie Steve Shellard is even more emphatic on the issue, saying an LPGA title is "definitely" on the cards. "I think she's got the best swing of anybody I've ever seen," he said. "Gary Gilchrist has been working with her (on it and) she's got it. She's got the shots. What a great short game, too. She's got some great wedge shots. I call her Phil Mickelson. I say, 'Come on, Phil, you can make this'." But distance control stands out as her winning ingredient, he said. "If I ask her to hit it 148 yards it's not going 153. It's going 148, maybe 148 and a half," he added. "That's her best attribute." Having 'looped' for the unknown Chinese girl for the first two events of her pro career in Hawaii last year, Shellard, who caddied on the men's PGA Tour throughout the 1980s, described her as being more relaxed and happy-go-lucky these days. "She matured and learned what to do and how to act out here on Tour. She learned what she needed to do for routines and how to practice," he said. Now she is one of the most popular players on the women's circuit. "When she first came out she was not as loose. Now if she hits a bad shot she forgets about it, laughs maybe," said Shellard. "She's done a 180 (degree turn) since I've known her. When we started working together again she was like a whole new girl." That girl was seemingly born to golf. Her father is the general secretary of the Guangzhou Golf Association in China's golfing capital, Guangdong province. |
