Story by Tim Maitland
Hong Kong's team win, in a tournament that attracted entrants from Canada, the US and Spain as well as from Chinese Taipei and Malaysia, owed much to their performances in the Girls Group A where 16-year-old Stephanie Ho had to hole a 20-foot birdie putt on the first play off hole against her teammate Tiffany Chan to avoid turning a massive lead at the start of the day into a loss.
"That was my first birdie of the day! I didn't make a single birdie on my whole round. I never felt "well" mentally all day. I had a nine-shot lead and I guess I wasn't focusing," she said, more cheerfully than her words might suggest.
"I had thought it was going to be easy. It was just average the whole way round; bogies, double-bogies and missing my birdie chances. I was just quietly imploding. Next time I have a big lead I'll play more carefully!" she promised
When the Year of the Rat makes way for the Ox, the HSBC China Junior Program, in which the world's local bank partners with the China Golf Association to create a long-lasting legacy for the US$5 million HSBC Champions, expand its stable of events with the addition of the HSBC Junior Regional Team Championship to the six regular stops of the HSBC National Junior Championship, along with the HSBC National Junior Championship Final and the 2010 HSBC China Junior Golf Open.
The sense of change was evident everywhere around the Nansha clubhouse, decorated throughout with the red streamers and trimmings that typify this time of year. It was no more obvious than when 14-year-old Hsu Wei-Ling of Chinese Taipei rushed to get to a computer after winning the Girls Group B. However, as Hsu logged into Skype to spread the news of the biggest win of her life, it wasn't her family that she phoned first.
photo Hsu Wei-Ling
"I called to thank my friend at the travel agents that helped me get my flight," she explained.
"Because it's so close to Chinese New Year it was really hard to get a ticket and we had to try many ways before we could get here, so I wanted to thank them… then I called my dad," she added.
HSBC China Junior Golf Open
Nansha Golf Club, Nansha, Guangdong 21st to 23rd January 2009
Leading scores (China unless stated)
Girls:
Group A:
228 – Stephanie Ho (Hong Kong) 73, 73, 82
228 – Tiffany Chan (Hong Kong) 79, 76, 73
235 – Peng Chieh (Chinese Taipei) 79, 79, 77
Ho won on first play-off hole
Group B:
225 – Hsu Wei-Ling (Chinese Taipei) 73, 75, 77
229 – Wang Ziyi 78, 74, 77
Group C:
226 – Kitty Tam (Hong Kong) 73, 73, 80
230 – Yin Zijun 78, 78, 74
Group D*:
120 – Sui Xiang 82, 38
123 – Liu Ruixin 85, 38
123 – Shi Yuting 85, 38
Group E*:
114 – Guan Ruqing 74, 40
117 – Mao Zeting 78, 39
120 – Tian Qi 81, 39
*Played over 27 holes (18 first round, 9 second round) 19th and 20th January.
Age Groups:
A: 15-17 years
B: 13-14 years
C: 11-12 years
D: 9-10 years
E: 6-8 years
