Asian Tour chief Kyi Hla Han believes Liang Wenchong can achieve
success on the international front, saying the sky is the limit for
the new Chinese star.
Han, the Asian Tour's Executive Chairman, was amongst those who
lauded Liang's winning breakthrough at the Clariden Leu Singapore
Masters on March 11 and believes the 28-year-old can surpass the
achievements of Zhang Lianwei, China's flagbearer for more than a
decade.
"Over the past decade or so, Zhang has certainly paved the way
for Chinese golf to emerge onto the scene with his wonderful
achievements and multiple wins across Asia. His contributions
towards golf in China and Asia have been immense," said Han.
"However, I feel that Liang has even greater potential to take
his career onto greater heights, and win titles internationally and
surpass Zhang's achievements. Liang's success in Singapore was
timely and now that he's tasted his first major victory, the sky is
the limit for him."
Liang kept his cool against Malaysia's Iain Steel to emerge as
only the second Chinese player to win the event co-sanctioned by
the European PGA Tour and Asian PGA Tour, emulating Zhang's feat in
the same tournament in 2003.
While Zhang blazed a trail for Chinese with his magnificent
exploits - winning five times across the region and featured as in
the US Masters in 2004 - Han believes that Liang can achieve
greater things.
"Liang has stated previously that he wants to play on the US PGA
Tour and I believe he has the game, steely resolve and
determination to achieve this goal, and establish himself in
America. I feel confident that he can improve further and win on US
or European soil," said Han.
"Liang has age on his side and at 28, he has at least another 10
good years of golf to improve and become a better player."
Han, Asia's No 1 in 1999, has been following Liang's progress
closely since the day the Chinese youngster arrived on the big
stage by finishing fourth as an amateur in the Volvo China Open in
1999, a tournament which Han won.
"When I won the Volvo China Open, Liang did really well and I've
been monitoring his progress over the years. I'm pleased to see him
come through in a big way and like how Zhang had inspired golf to
grow in China, I believe that Liang will serve as an inspiration to
other Chinese players.
"Liang has shown great generosity as well in pledging to donate
all his winnings from Singapore for the development of golf in
China and hopefully, Chinese golf will benefit from his gesture and
start delivering more international-class golfers in the mould of
Zhang and Liang," added Han.
(China Daily March 22, 2007)
