Baby steps for nation in its golf infancy(2)

Baby steps

"It's a good opportunity," Li said of PGA Tour China. "If not for the PGA competition, I would not be able to have a chance to go to the US to play."

Li believes he is technically sound enough to compete. What he lacks is experience.

And that was the whole idea of the fledgling tour in China.

"We're seeing some good players, and some wins by Chinese players," said Paul Johnson, the PGA Tour's senior vice-president of international business affairs. "That's the start of the process. They have to play a lot and win tournaments. We've been encouraged by the early success. That said, we have a very long-term view. Our hope is to have one or two players come through early. And if it doesn't happen in the short term, we stay with the plan.

"The talent is there," Johnson said. "It's getting the competitive experience."

The one setback on PGA Tour China was the other Chinese winner—Zhang Xinjun, whom the CGA banned for six months after he was disqualified for the second time for turning in an incorrect scorecard. He is leading the money list on the PGA Tour China, though the ban means Zhang cannot play on any tour until the middle of March. The PGA Tour will not comment on whether it plans its own sanction.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem described it as an"individual thing"and said the topic did not come up in two days of meetings with Chinese golf officials.

Finchem said the goal was to develop elite players and the first gauge of true progress could come next year if Zhang and Li get to the Web.com Tour.

"Next year will be really good because it will be a combination of seeing how the guys who qualify for the Web.com do and then we've got some growth going on here,"said Finchem, who expects an additional three events on the 2015 China schedule."We're not looking to change the world overnight. It's a long-term project."

Still an infant

Zhang Lianwei was the first Chinese player to win on the European Tour in 2003 when he beat Ernie Els by one shot in the Singapore Masters. He was the inspiration for Liang Wenchong, who shot 64 in the third round at Whistling Straits and tied for eighth at the 2010 PGA Championship.

Wu Ashun has qualified for the British Open the past two years. Wu wonders how much easier it would have been had the PGA Tour China been around earlier.

"It would help me develop my career better,"he said."It's very lucky for the Chinese players. They will benefit from the tour. They can stay in China to play tournaments but it's a passage to the PGA Tour."

Finchem recalls the World Cup going to China in 1995 and a gallery that pressed against the ropes without truly understanding what it was seeing. The fans are have become more sophisticated each year and some of the Chinese players had the largest galleries behind only the likes of Scott, Rickie Fowler and HSBC winner Bubba Watson.

"It's early days since the start of the century that we started coming here,"Scott said."Fifteen years isn't that long to build world-class players. Maybe we're five years away from seeing really great players."