Japan is a golf-crazy nation.
So is South Korea.
But the total monster in Asia frowns mightily on the game.
China is a communist country and golf has been on rocky ground for a long time. In 2004, construction of new courses came crashing down — forbidden by government decree.
Existing courses have been shut down and torn up to prevent competition for water with farmlands and farmlands are extraordinarily important in a country where you have to feed 1.4 billion people.
Which brings us to the only flag-waver for golf in China.
We’re talking about Shanshan Feng, aka “Jenny Money” on the LPGA Tour — also known as the hottest player on the planet right now. She has won back-to-back after taking the Sime Darby in Malaysia two weeks ago then the Toto Classic in Japan last Sunday.
Her last six events have gone like this: win, win, T-third, second, T-fourth, solo fourth. She has climbed to fourth in the Rolex World Rankings and is sixth and a big favorite in the race for the CME Globe, the LPGA’s version of the FedEx Cup.
Feng opened a lot of government eyes when she won the bronze medal in the Olympics and it is Olympic medals that gain attention in a country like China. “I do think I am a guinea pig — but I am a successful guinea pig,” is how Feng put it. Did we mention she has a great sense of humor?
Jenny Money is the life of the party. She loves a good meal and has no qualms about buying expensive handbags. “I have to play well so I can afford them,” she said, smiling after she won last week. Look out Coach and Louis Vuitton.
Good stuff from a gal who carries the pressure of the sport on her shoulders.
Feng is golf in China.
If there is any hope of bringing the game from banishment, she is it.
The problem is that more than anywhere else in the world, golf in China is reserved for the financial elite.
Out of 1.4 billion people, there are only one million who play golf compared to 24 million in the United States where the population is around 320 million.
There are 15,000 golf courses in the United States compared to just 600 in China.
And here’s the shocking news: There are NO municipal courses in China. All this makes you wonder why they play that WGC event in Shanghai.
Communists frown on the uber-rich, the one segment of the country that can afford golf. The growing middle class has no time or inclination or resources to play the game and it is the middle class that typically provides for the growth in the sport in most countries around the world.
With Feng’s rise in the world rankings, there is currently a slight push to lift the ban on construction of new courses in China. If there’s one thing the government likes, it is world attention to one of its athletes and Feng is doing more than her part.
A lot of it goes back to that Bronze Medal moment at The Rio Olympics and Feng perhaps summed it up best:
“To a lot of you, it was a bronze medal, but to me it was a gold medal — just rose-colored gold.”
Her country probably feels the same way.
