Aaron Du (left) and playing partner Sampson Zheng pose with the US Amateur Four-Ball Championship Trophy
After Chinese women like former World No 1 Shan Shan Feng made their mark in America, it now appears that Chinese men are set to make their mark. In fact Chinese amateurs Wenyi Ding and Yuxin Ling are ranked 2nd and 3rd in the World Amateur Rankings among Asians and 9 other Chinese men are in the top 200 while not a single Indian player features in the top 200.
And now two Chinese players, 21-year-olds classmates from the University of California-Berkeley, Aaron Du and Sampson Zheng from China have won the highly competitive USGA Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
Du and Zheng joined 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Wenyi Ding as the first golfers from the People’s Republic of China to claim a USGA title, and the fifth overall from the country following Fumi (Alice) Jo (2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links) and Lei Ye (2019 U.S. Girls’ Junior).
Until now Japanese like Matsuyama, South Korean like KJ Choi and more recently and Thai players had made their mark on the PGA Tour, but now it seems the Chinese are soon to follow.
With no Indian men on the horizon for the PGA tour, it is time we gave some thought on how much ground Indian golf is losing on the men’s stage compared to other Asian countries, who are developing players in a planned, systematic manner on a national level.