THE FUTURE IS ASIA, SAYS NICKLAUS

　　Beijing, April 25: Golf legend Jack Nicklaus, making a special appearance at the inaugural Pine Valley Beijing Open, believes that the future of golf lies in Asia.

　　Nicklaus, winner of a record 18 Major titles during his illustrious career, said on Wednesday that the Asian Tour will continue to grow and expects the standard of play to rise in tandem.

　　The "Golden Bear" was in Pine Valley Golf Resort and Country Club to attend the club's phase II course opening ceremony and conduct a junior clinic, held in conjunction with US$500,000 Pine Valley Beijing Open which starts on Thursday.

　　“The Asian Tour will continue to grow and Asian players will continue to get better," said Nicklaus.

　　"Asia is the place where the most growth will come from and there will be more young players being introduced to the game here than in any other place by comparison to what we have seen in the past.

　　“It is a relatively new game here in Asia and I’m confident the growth will be good in this region,” added Nicklaus, who designed the 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Course and the 27-hole Jack Nicklaus II Links Course at Pine Valley, the venue for this week's event.

　　Nicklaus, 67, added that the standard of the game in Asia will grow steadily as playing opportunities increase. However he feels that they Asians must spread their wings to compete at the highest level.

　　“Asian players can improve if they keep playing tournaments across the world and compete against the best, that’s how to be the best.

　　“The world is getting smaller. Now the Asian Tour has events with the European Tour and I think this is a big step in making the world smaller as the game is becoming more global,” said Nicklaus.

　　With a staggering 73 US PGA Tour victories under his belt, Nicklaus commended the achievements of Asian Tour-bred players including China's Zhang Lian-wei, Korea’s Charlie Wi and former stalwart Choi Kyung-ju and he is confident that with the continued expansion of the Asian Tour, more Asians will break through onto the big stage.

　　“I have seen a lot more good players now then from the time when I was playing. I have seen good Japanese and Korean players like Charlie Wi, KJ Choi and even Kevin Na. We have Zhang who was the first Chinese to play in the Masters. It just shows that the game is going to continue to grow in Asia. It’s not going to stop.”

　　Nicklaus emphasized the fact that it is important for emerging golfing nations in Asia to have golf icons to help boost the interest and steer the country in the right direction in the development of the sport.

　　“A country should also have people to look up to and this applies to golf in Asia as well. We have to have heroes and people to follow. If we look at Bernhard Langer and how he affected the game in Germany, now newcomer Loreno (Ochoa) and what she is doing with the game in Mexico and Gary Player for South Africa, it’s the same thing. Every country, no matter what region, need golfing icons.”

　　Nicklaus has focused primarily on his course designing business of late and hopes to continue to create playing opportunities for players across Asia. “I will continue to develop courses in Asia and shape the games of the people by providing good golf courses to learn on and be able to play on world-class courses.

　　"Right now I’m working in 29 new countries and have 55 countries in total that I’m involved in all over the world, and Asia is part of this. I hope Asian golf will continue to grow as there are many emerging nations in golf.”

　　The Asian Tour will stage a record Schedule in 2007 with over US$27 million on offer. The Pine Valley Beijing Open is the 12th leg this season.

　　This week's tournament will feature American star John Daly and Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit leader Anton Haig of South Africa, Liang Wen-chong, who is ranked second, in-form Australian Scott Hend, who enjoyed two straight top-three finishes coming into this week, and Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat, who claimed his maiden win at the TCL Classic in March.