Thu, Jul 11, 2002 page20

• Taiwan's young Tigers get a boost with golf program

  AIMING HIGH The country's young golfers will be encouraged to excel with a new program of reduced course costs, tournaments and professional coaching

  • By Jules Quartly / CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
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  Taiwan's young Tigers will get their chance to shine on golf's international stage, sports bosses promised yesterday at an Acer Taiwan Open press conference in Taipei.

  Politicians, golf club owners and sports chiefs have put together a Junior Golf Program to give a much-needed boost to youngsters who aim to be the next Tiger Woods.

  

  Acer operations chief J.T. Wang, left, smiles for the camera yesterday, along with children in the Junior Golf Program and its officer John Wang, back row, second right, and Era Communications President Tony Wang, back row, right, at the Westin Hotel, Taipei.

  PHOTO COURTESY IMG

  Reduced prices for juniors to play on the nation's golf links, more tournaments and international coaching are intended to give Taiwan a new crop of golfing talent in five to 10 years time that can compete with the best in the world.

  Chairman of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Thomas Huang (黃大洲) said yesterday that Taiwan had already produced some moderately successful golfers, particularly women players.

  He said a lot had been done to encourage golf but more was needed if Taiwan was to challenge at an international level.

  "Training players when they're young is always the best way to develop sports."

  Huang said there would be beneficial side effects from investing in the game. "We should not treat golf as just an entertainment."

  He said there were statistics which showed that investment in sports would lead to a decrease in the costs of medical care to taxpayers.

  "We should promote golf into a sport for all the people, regardless of age or sex. It is a sport that is suitable for people in many different walks of life."

  Bigger is better

  National Council of Physical Fitness and Sports Chairman Lin Te-fu

  (林德福) agreed. "We must develop golf at all levels of the game and train more potential players."

  To do so, he said, sporting venues needed to be upgraded and there needed to be more golf ranges and tournaments.

  Taiwan players must compete more in international competitions and market domestic tournaments to attract a larger audience "like in baseball," Lin said.

  "It's time to put Taiwan on the [golfing] map," International Management Group (IMG) Vice President and Managing Director-Taiwan John Cappo said.

  "We've been trying to do this for six years or more and now we have the platform to do so."

  Cappo said there had been many problems along the way, but now there was broad support from government and local industries for the plan to promote golf at the grassroots level.

  "It's unprecedented in many ways and could lead the way for sports development in Taiwan."

  The Junior Golf Program, he said, would concentrate on 14- to 18-year-olds and give them the opportunity to play more golf by immediately reducing course fees nationwide at over 30 clubs.

  Youngsters will pay just NT$600 this year for a round of golf and the very best young golfers will get to play free of charge.

  There will be 12 monthly competitions in the north, middle and south of Taiwan, with four quarterly tournaments -- called the Four Majors.

  An Acer Junior Golf Ranking system will seed young golfers based on their performance in the competitions.

  The best 10 golfers will be enrolled in either domestic or overseas training camps and coached by top professionals.

  Sunrise Golf and Country Club President Hsu Tien-ya (許典雅), who is a partner in the initiative, said, "We'll see the results in five to six years ... at the very most 10 years."

  There has been mounting criticism in the press that Taiwan's government and golf associations have not done enough to nurture the game.

  As evidence they point to the choice of 61-year-old Hsieh Min-nan (謝敏男) as last year's golfer of the year.

  Even Hsieh agreed with the Taipei Times at the awards ceremony last August, when he said the situation had to be remedied. "Young players haven't improved that much. In particular there is a need for more corporate support."

  Hsu, who will head up the Junior Golf Program with the Golf Association of the ROC (GAROC), said, "The training and development of junior golfers is probably the most important mission for GAROC at the moment.

  More the merrier

  "We firmly believe a well-planned and implemented training program will significantly help our potential young golfers, not only in enhancing their skills, but also in gaining experience through playing different courses under different pressure."

  Young golfers and their parents attended the launch of the program yesterday and gave their unreserved support.

  "Academic success is not the most important thing. It's health, so we will support this initiative," said mother Wu Shu-wan (吳淑丸).

  As for the kids, they all said they wanted more cheap golf and competitions. "I want to be Tiger," said one. "I want to be David Duval," said another and so it went on, through the PGA roster.

  The Taiwan Open will play through Sept. 19 to Sept. 22 at the Sunrise Golf and Country Club in Taoyuan, near Taipei.

  Sixty-five local and the same number of international players on the Asian and PGA tour will play at the event, in addition to 14 sponsor invitations.

  They will play for prize money of US$300,000 in a 72-hole stroke-play format.
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