How China’s ladies are shaping sport

When the Women’s China Open first teed off in 2006, the occasion was quietly significant.

- CHUAH CHOO CHIANG

Feng Shanshan.

(WME)

At the time, women’s golf in the Middle Kingdom was still taking fledgling steps in the global game. The domestic circuit was modest, the talent pool limited and the pathway to elite professional circuits like the LPGA Tour seemed distant, if not daunting.

Yet that first swing in Xiamen coincided with the dawn of a new era, one in which the nation’s most talented women would soon find their footing at home before spreading their wings abroad to challenge the best of the best and eventually write Chinese golf into the pages of sporting history.

Nearly two decades after the inaugural event, the transformation has been profound in China. From Feng Shanshan’s trailblazing major victory in 2012 to the steady rise of top players such as Janet Lin Xiyu, Yin Ruoning and Miranda Wang on the LPGA Tour, and milestone Olympic Games moments in Rio de Janeiro and Paris where Feng and Lin earned bronze medals, women’s golf in China has certainly been propelled to the forefront with great force.

Such has been the impact and growth in China that golfers from across Southeast Asia, including a strong representation of Thai players such as Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong, Onkanok Soisuwan and Kan Bunnabodee, are now looking at the CLPG Tour as the career springboard as they dream of the stars.