For the second time this year, France's golfers have won back-to-back tournaments on the European PGA Tour. Jean-Francois Lucquin's play-off success at last weekend's Omega European Masters trophy in Crans-sur-Sierre came hot on the heels of Gregory Havret's wire-to-wire win at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, Scotland. Earlier this year, Thomas Levet won the Open de Andalucia and Gregory Bourdy lifted the Estoril Open de Portugal title in successive weeks.
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Lucqin is congratulated on his victory by Raphael Jacqelin and Michael Lorenzo-Vera. [HSBC Golf] |
The tournament was of special significance in Asia, as it was recently announced that The Asian Tour will jointly sanction the Omega European Masters in 2009 along with the European Tour.
This represents a huge step forward for Asian golf. The prestigious event, staged annually at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Switzerland, will be the first ever tournament on European soil to be co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour. Sponsors Omega, whose extensive participation in the world of global sports includes its role as Official Timekeeper at 23 Olympic Games, became the title sponsor of the tournament in 2001 following a decade-long partnership with the European Masters.
OMEGA, as title sponsor of the China Tour and the Mission Hills World Cup of Golf, has long been a major presence in Asian golf. The participation by some of Asia's leading players in the European Masters will add a special element to the competition.
"While this co-sanctioned tournament is important to OMEGA,"said Stephen Urquhart, President of Omega, "it has even greater significance for the world of golf. As the sport becomes increasingly popular in Asia, it's the perfect time to be introducing the golfers playing there to the international stage."
Asian Tour Executive Chairman Kyi Hla Han hailed the groundbreaking announcement, saying it was a wonderful reflection of the growth of the Asian Tour which will stage a record 30 tournaments with nearly US$39 million in prize money this season.
"It is a terrific milestone for the Asian Tour,"said Han. "Since 1999, the Asian Tour has worked closely with the European Tour through a successful co-sanction programme in Asia and our talented players have taken the opportunity to broaden their playing careers. With the Asian Tour scheduled to visit Europe for the first time in 2009, I believe it will pave the way for our Tour and playing members to enjoy greater achievements.
As a prelude to next year's event, Omega invited several Asian Tour members to compete in last week's Omega European Masters, which offered a €2 million prize fund. China's Zhang Lianwei took advantage of the opportunity to prepare himself for next year's event, with steady rounds of 71, 71, 71 and 69 to finish in 44th place.
France's four tournament winners will all be in China in November for the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai – with a US $5 million dollar prize fund it is the biggest individual tournament in China's mainland - and anyone looking to understand why French wins come in convoys need only follow them when they arrive in Shanghai to find the answer.
No other group in golf has the camaraderie, the spirit of togetherness and the mutual support system that exists among the French players - a characteristic that allows them to succeed despite that fact that golf is a relatively low-profile sport there when compared to other European nations.
But as 23-year-old Michael Lorenzo-Vera explains, it's not just when they're successful that the players help each other. Having topped the 2007 Challenge Tour Rankings, the youngster from Biarritz qualified for the 2007 HSBC Champions, at that stage the biggest tournament of his entire life. He says he would have frozen with terror had it not been for the help of the veteran players.
"I arrived to practice and there was Vijay Singh, (Phil) Mickelson, Ernie Els (Retief) Goosen… The first time I saw them I was like "whoa, what's going on?" but every night, Raphael Jacquelin, Gregory Havret and Gregory Bourdy took me to eat and kept me relaxed. I'm much more relaxed because of them."
"Before, French golfers didn't always believe they could win. The older players didn't have that confidence in the past. But I think the current generation, players like Gregory and Jeff Lucquin, they always believe that they can win," said Lorenzo-Vera. It's a mindset that is steadily developing in China too, where the relative success of veterans like Zhang Lianwei acts as an inspiration to younger players such as Hu Mu, who plan to move Chinese Golf up a step further in terms of international results.
Lorenzo-Vera, who finished 14th in last week's tournament, performed particularly well during his visit to China, producing his best tournament finish so far – a second place – at the Volvo China Open in April this year. He will certainly be back when the European Tour returns to Asia in the autumn.
(HSBC Golf, Asian Tour and David Ferguson September 10, 2008)