HSBC and CGA plan for China’s junior success

A home-grown winner of the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai within 10 years is the long-term aim of the blueprint unveiled by the China Golf Association (CGA) and HSBC. Following the announcement late last year of a multi-million dollar, three-year partnership between the global bank and the CGA, plans are underway to develop the country?s burgeoning youth game.

The result is the HSBC China Junior Golf Programme ? a raft of junior golf tournaments and initiatives designed to increase participation at every level, as well as international success.

Among the most eye-catching events is the HSBC National Junior Golf Championship ? an event held in regional centres across China with the eventual winners earning the right to train with and then play against the world?s best at the HSBC Champions, a European Tour event.

Other schemes include HSBC Junior Golf Camps, designed to encourage youngsters across the country to take up the sport, an HSBC Junior Ranking System, which will take into account all CGA-approved junior tournaments and various nationwide training courses for coaches and school teachers.

?The HSBC China Junior Golf Programme will have a significant impact on junior golf in China and help the sport convert the increasing levels of interest and participation into tangible success on the course,? said Zhang Xiaoning, vice chairman and secretary-general of the CGA.