The VOLVO China Open has returned to its “spiritual home” at Silport Golf Club, which has hosted the event six times. But why did VOLVO come to Silport in the first place, only to leave it and come back again? Silport’s mastermind and Chairman Beta Soong, explains.

Beta Soong always comes back to Silport, his home away from home. “After a couple of decades, Silport is now just like my child, growing year upon year.”

Soong first arrived at Silport in 1993, when it was in the first stage of planning to examine the land. He found that Silport was to be founded upon “just a patch of wilderness” next to Dianshan Lake, but nevertheless, deemed the spot an ideal place for a first-class golf course after “feeling the breath from the strong waters of the South China Sea,” as he puts it. Soong’s second visit took place ten years before, and soon after, he returned with the president and CEO of VOLVO Event Management, Mel Pyatt, to further vet the Silport location. Pyatt was satisfied with the conditions, but was a bit wary about Silport hosting the China Open. He needn’t have worried, however: after hosting the first edition of the event, Silport was confirmed as host for five more years. “Silport is always acquiring the highest and best quality, and since the Opens is considered a top course,” Soong says. “Silport and the VOLVO China Open are now brothers, and several months before the Open, Silport sends out thousands of letters inviting golfers to participate.”

From 1999 to 2004, the purse at the VOLVO China Open increased from US$400,000.to US$1 million, while the event’s location was shifted to Shenzhen, something most people involved found a difficult adjustment. Nonetheless, Soong graciously commented that, “it is the VOLVO China Open, not the Silport Open, so this is normal, though Silport will always welcome the VOLVO Open, as an old friend.”

In April 2007, the “old friend” loyally returned to Silport, and the VOLVO Open is stronger than ever with a new purse of US$2 million (double what it was the last time around). As for Silport, preparations are now much less difficult, just like an old friend comes back to visit. Silport and Scotland’s Carnoustie are sister-courses, and in 2007 the British Open returned to Carnoustie just as the VOLVO China Open has come back to Silport, by god! (as the Scots say).