Focusing on Fanling

Hong Kong is hosting the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in early October for the first time. The event is organized by Augusta National and the R&A, with the winner earning a place in the Masters Tournament. What advice would you have for the players?

My advice is that you do not have to [turn pro]. A lot of us put pressure on ourselves from the day we decide to turn pro, to make sure that we have a PGA Tour card or a European Tour card or whatever tour we choose to play on. We put so much pressure on ourselves to get onto that Tour and I think that most of these amateurs are winning the tournaments are in their late teenage years; 18,19,20. My advice is that as long as you are improving as a player every single year, you will achieve your goal eventually. So don’t expect it all at once. Don’t put pressure on yourselves to have anything by next year, for instance. Just focus on your game and as long as you improve year on year, you will be the way you want to be eventually.

Aside from Hong Kong, what is your end-of-season run-in looking like heading towards Dubai?

These are obviously big events on European Tour now all the way to Dubai. I am in good condition heading there. I am fourth on the list, so, every single tournament is important. You know Hong Kong will be the start of the whole big run for me where I have the opportunity to win the Race to Dubai. The last time I won the European Tour Order of Merit was in 2007, the year before it became the Race to Dubai. So, it would be fantastic to add that title with its new name to my collection and the best way to do that is go out and win.

Asian women are tearing up the LPGA, why are we not seeing a similar impact from Asian men on the main Tours?

That is a great question. I am not exactly sure. I don’t have a great answer for you other than I think we are beginning to see the start of it. You know, Hideki Matsuyama and Kevin Na impress me every single week. Also Ben An [An Byeong-hun], the score that he shot at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth was an absolutely phenomenal achievement. I played that tournament myself, and to see someone who shot 21-under-par around Wentworth was just such a great achievement. So we are beginning to see the potential come through now in the men. You know the strength on the PGA Tour in general is very, very strong right now. So it’s really hard for any particular group of players or particular countries to dominate because there’s strength and depth all over the world. But we are definitely beginning to see the occasional Asian players compete for the top spot.