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| Norway’s Suzann Pettersen in awe of Asian Golf Star's Dominance. - Yani Tseng's LPGA Win Boosts Popularity of Taiwanese Golf both Locally and Globally. |
| [02.11.2011, 02:47pm, Wed. GMT] |
The inaugural 2011 LPGA Taiwan Championship (LPGA) held October 20 to 23 yielded an international array of winners. Yani Tseng (middle) captured her seventh LPGA Tour victory of the 2011 season at the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship in Yang Mei, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Suzann Pettersen of Norway (left) and NaYeon Choi of South Korea (right) The four-day span of the tournament brought in 66917 visitors.
The success of the event has significantly raised
Taiwan's international profile via participation of the world's top 10
female golfers.
Reporters arrived from more than 20 countries and the tournament was broadcast
worldwide.
During international sports events
Taiwan is commonly referred to as Chinese Taipei. The live Chinese broadcast
commentary during the tournament made remarks such as, "The Sunrise Golf and Country Club in Yangmei is in the northern part of Chinese Taipei," etc.
The Taiwanese broadcast in Chinese stated, "Yangmei is in the north of Taiwan. "
Thousands of fans waved Republic of China national flags to
boost Yani Tseng and other Taiwanese golfers.
This was too much for two
participants from the mainland Peoples Republic of China. They walked away from the game.
This top-level event brought the game, originally belonging only to the
upper class, to everyone, even those who had never before watched golf. With the completion of the LPGA Taiwan Championship, planning is now in full swing for the Swinging Skirts TLPGA Invitational scheduled for 8th – 11th December 2011.
This event will feature eight of the world’s 10 top players. Pettersen has not yet stated if she will participate. The Swinging Skirts Taiwan Ladies Professional Golf Association (TLPGA), hosting the event, is a private organization made up of amateur men and women golfers. One of the traditions of the team is to wear a skirt while playing the game, whether you are a woman - or not!
Taiwan's golf mania is expected to continue for years to come since the local
Golf Association has signed a contract with the LPGA to host the tournament
again in 2012 and 2013. Suzann Pettersen and Norway News will receive invitations. We hope to see fans with Norwegian flags!
Suzann Pettersen has made comments to The China Post, Taiwan's leading English-language newspaper:
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Tseng is a great Number 1 and makes the rest of us work even harder.
- There are several more stars emerging from Taiwan and Korea. They begin playing at a very early age, when they are only seven, eight or nine years old.
I think if you start at age 14 now, too late, sorry. Everyone at that age is far ahead of you in the Asian countries.
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At the same time, we can learn from that. I think it's a good way, a good structure. In such a technical sport like golf the earlier the better. They actually get the point there - they have a head start.
- Just imagine when China starts playing golf. There were only two Chinese girls here now. If one percent of China starts playing golf, that's 60 million!
Suzann Pettersen often plays golf in Asia and loves Asian food. If she were not a professional golfer, she would love to be a physical therapist.
- My mind hasn't been all on golf of late.
I recently lost a close family friend in a skydiving accident and I was stunned by the July 22 attacks in Norway that left 77 people dead. It makes you realize life's not all about golf. It makes you put things in perspective.
Mr.Geir Yeh Fotland – Taiwan National Correspondent NORWAY NEWS
geiryeh@gmail.com
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