Ladies and gentlemen,

Glad to see you here. As the owner of Shanghai Silport, the host venue of the Volvo China Open for six consecutive years, I am very happy to offer this report about the tournament. I would like to look forward to the future.

First, the reason we chose to become involved in the Volvo China Open

Six years ago, a decision was made to make a pitch for Silport to host the China Volvo Open. The purpose for holding such an international tournament was to improve the service routine at Silport as well as to contribute to the bright future of golf in China and its continued development.

The development of professional golf in China depends on new courses, new ideas and new people, much more so than fancy facilities and prestigious designer names. A devotion to a structured development of the sport is essential to its success and growth.

My goal for Silport was for it to become one of the most successful and valuable golf clubs in the world. In 1998, I was given a great opportunity to meet the chairman of Volvo tournaments -- Mr Mel Pyatt -- and Dai Yaozong from Richtone in 1998.

I felt that in hosting the China Open Silport had the opportunity become the top club in China once the tournament became known worldwide. Despite the economic crisis that plagued Southeast Asia at the time, I threw myself into a collaboration with Volvo and Richtone to help develop the China Open. As a result, a professional image and elite status for Silport Golf club could be established in China.

In 1999, the Volvo China Open was held at Silport for the first time with much investment in labor and capital. Silport staff was encouraged to produce a successful, high-level and respectable tournament. To my great joy, many players and golf industry professionals offered us a lot of praise. Because of its unexpected success, Mel Pyatt was confident about the future of the China Open so we signed an unprecedented 10-year agreement to hold tournaments. Silport would work closely with Volvo as both parties are dedicated to honest, open cooperation as a criterion for staging successful Volvo China Opens.

Second, the progress of the Volvo China Open for 10 years One: The prize money has increased from US$400,000 in the early years to US$1 million today.
Two: The scale of the crowds has risen from several hundred to more than 4,000 on the final day last year.

Third: The tournament has gone from being an Asian Tour event to one that is now co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Asian Tour. China is also playing an increasingly important role in the world.

Fourth: There has been much greater media attention for the tournament through its live television coverage broadcast from Asia to Europe. In addition, visiting media to Silport throughout the year has also increased significantly.

Fifth: The ability to hold tournaments has been achieved to the top echelons in Asia. Silport has twice received an award as the best golf venue in Asia. This prize made quite a lot of news around the golf world.

Third, where does the China Open go in future?

Perhaps a lot of people will consider it impractical for the Volvo China Open in its present form to parallel a European Tour event. The gap is too deep between them. The history, the viewing audience and the media are not on the same level. However, I always consider the China Open to be one with a bright future and one that will likely be famous in 20 or 25 years. With the development of the China economy, many business giants will appear to sponsor golf in order to compete in the market. At that time, the living standard would be much better, so golf will be a very popular game.

Can you imagine the top golfers from all over the world playing in the largest China Open with prize money equal to the four Majors? China has become very prosperous and all the media will have live coverage. When that happens, then I think our dream will be realized. And if a superstar like Tiger Woods appears in China, the process will be accelerated.

Finally, preparation for international tournaments

In order to hold a complex tournament, all the departments in Silport are as follows:
Course maintenance, marketing, clubhouse, public relations, advertising and the tournament department.

One, the course maintenance department is mainly for lawn maintenance, fairway conditioning, site layout, advertising boards, the achievement bulletin, policing, cleaning, traffic command, telecommunications, support and task conversion.

Two, the marketing department has to look for sponsors to bear the big costs in tournaments. In addition, they have to communicate with club members for the purpose to expanding the market.

Three, the club house is for organizing the media planning, pro-am tournament preparations, celebration party, food supply, facilities supply, photos taking, and so on.

Four, the public relationship department is to set a professional image of the tournament in public, to invite guests such as officials and VIPs, for holding forums and arranging teaching programs, and for advancing the tournament.

Five, the advertising department is for generating news about the tournament and issuing it out to various media contacts around the world. They have to place advertisements and hold press conferences, arrange interviews and plan live shows.