Thursday 13th November is going to be very a special day for Shanghai Silport GC. When the first ball of the US$500,000 Volvo China Open is struck off the first tee at 7.00 am, it will mark five years in a row that the event has been held at the club. To commemorate the occasion Volvo will present a unique crystal memento to club chairman, Beta Soong.

“Volvo is one of the biggest sponsors in world golf,” says Alistair Polson, Executive Director of Richtone and in charge of the Volvo China Open. “They have vast experience of tournament venues and so this is a huge vote of confidence for Silport.”

Mel Pyatt, head of Volvo sponsorship worldwide adds, “Silport now joins Wentworth and Valderrama, two of the most famous courses in the world as venues where major Volvo sponsored events have been held for five years or more. Wentworth has hosted the Volvo PGA Championship every year since 1988 and Valderrama hosted the grande finale of the European Tour, the Volvo Masters Andalucia from 1988 to 1996 and again in 2002.”

Silport is indeed linked with some very prestigious company. The West course at Wentworth, near London was opened in 1926 and plays host annually to both the Volvo PGA and the World Match Play Championships. It’s probably one of the most familiar courses in the world to television viewers, particularly the famous 17th and 18th holes. It’s nicknamed the “Burma Road” since it’s laid out like a vast coiling snake through thick forest and only returns back to the clubhouse area at the very end of the 18 holes. Even back in 1956, when it hosted the Canada Cup (now called the World Cup), it attracted an unprecedented 30,000 spectators.

Valderrama, near the small town of San Roque in southern Spain was designed by Robert Trent Jones in 1984 and is generally regarded as the finest of all the 7,000 golf courses in Europe. It’s renowned for its impeccable quality and has greens that are as fast as Augusta. In addition to being the spiritual home of the Volvo Masters, millions of television viewers watched the thrilling 1997 Ryder Cup match there between Europe and USA, where Tiger Woods watched helplessly as his putt from the back of the sloping 17th green just kept rolling past the hole and into the pond at the front. The 17th green has become famous for producing casualties amongst the top pros. It is so fast and sloping that the backspin from the approach shots, if not struck to the slightly flatter right front side of the green, will make the ball roll all the way back into the pond. To get a tee time at Valderrama is about as difficult as winning the first tee ballot at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Silport is a mere baby when compared with Wentworth and much younger than the relatively new Valderrama. Having opened in 1996 it looked so new and vulnerable, with short thin rough and hundreds of newly planted young trees. Now, eight years later, it’s maturing into a majestic and beautiful, natural style golf course blending perfectly with the local river delta landscape.

“We’re never satisfied,” said club chairman, Beta Soong. “Each year we change something here, upgrade something there to make it a both more of a challenge as well as a better overall golfing experience. But it’s important to me that we don’t tamper too much with nature. The great courses go with the flow of the natural terrain and, psychologically that makes us golfers feel good. Look at Pebble Beach, Turnberry, Muirfield, Carnoustie. You don’t find orchids or rockeries or fountains there, just pure golf – man against nature. At Silport, nature has been generous and given us a piece of flat land in a river delta which produces lush green grass, lots of lakes and streams and a strong breeze for most of the year. So we’re lucky in that we’re able to create great turf and exceptionally good putting surfaces. We’ve got a great piece of material to work with here. We do our job and the wind takes care of the rest. A great test of golf.”

Polson agrees. “ Silport’s got everything going for it.. Golfers want to be out amongst nature. If they want exotic plants, ornamental rocks, fountains and wall to wall landscaped shrubbery they’d go to the local botanical gardens. Golf is not just golf. It’s escape from everything that we experience in our daily lives. It’s back to our roots – back to our natural wild surroundings. That’s why the Volvo China Open comes here”

Soong has no doubts that China is the next great golfing nation.
“It’s inevitable,” he says. “We’re all crazy about golf here. We might not do it in quite the same way as the US and Europe but that’s ok, they have their style and we have ours. It’s good for golf. What’s the point in coming to play golf at Silport and thinking ‘hey, this is just like playing at home in Phoenix.’ You want a different experience, something to remember. We, I mean China, have such a lot to offer.”