Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) won Taiwan’s first LPGA tournament, sharing some of the glory of her position as the queen of golf with fellow Taiwanese. The tournament was hosted by Hsu Tien-ya (許典雅) of the Sunrise Golf and Country Club, who invited the world’s top 10 female golfers to participate. Reporters from more than 20 countries covered the event, which was broadcast in dozens of countries.
Her outstanding performance has created a “Yani Tseng effect.” The story of her success, superior skills, high resistance to stress and concentration, of her self-confidence, love for Taiwan and donations to charity, makes her a worthy role model for young people — and no doubt, many will be tempted to try and emulate her. However, Tseng deserves credit not just for winning the tournament, but for bringing it here in the first place and helping widen the appeal of her sport.
Golf used to be a sport of the upper class. This view has now changed, and it has even entered elementary-school sports curriculums in many countries. However, in Taiwan, the sport incurs an entertainment tax and a luxury tax as if it needed to be as strictly supervised as the entertainment industry. The sight of 67,000 golf fans over four days following Tseng around the course will hopefully be enough to make the government relax golf-related regulations so that the sport can spread and become a pastime available to anyone.
A majority of the well-known international competitions organized by Taiwan recently have been hosted by the central or local governments, but the Sunrise LPGA was hosted by the Sunrise Group. Everything from signing a three-year contract and paying royalties of NT$700 million (US$23.25 million) to raising the finances, inviting the world’s top players, upgrading the course’s facilities and maintaining security was undertaken by the private sector. The success of the Sunrise LPGA tournament will hopefully inspire private businesses or organizations to take a more prominent role in international activities.
Although the government has basically been an outsider to the tournament, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) has claimed it as part of the official celebrations for the Republic of China’s centenary.
A few years ago, Tseng suggested to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that Taiwan arrange an LPGA tour event to help boost Taiwan’s visibility in the international arena. However, when Ma heard the cost would approach NT$200 million, he was taken aback and said the same amount of money would pay for dozens of running events. With that, any discussion of the government organizing an LPGA event came to an end. It was only due to the government’s lack of interest that the private sector took over, which is why Siew rather than Ma welcomed the participants at the opening banquet.
The Sports Affairs Council and Taiwan’s Olympic Committee wanted the hosts to adopt the “Chinese Taipei” model, using the flag and anthem used by the nation in the Olympics, but Hsu insisted that it was a Taiwanese competition organized by the private sector and that the national flag be used. So the national flag was displayed throughout the tournament, something else the government would not have done.
Taiwan’s first LPGA event brought joy and pride to millions. The one downside was that the event also highlighted government officials’ lack of international knowledge and experience as well as their lack of boldness and decisiveness. Taiwan has two more years of hosting an LPGA tournament ahead of it, giving the government two years to take notes and learn from the private sector how to become more flexible and responsive to change.
That would be a “win-win” situation, as the Ma administration and the business world like to say.
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