新浪体育讯　March 16, 2009: Indiana University student Han Ren, Filipino pro Felix Casas, the China national team and former football star Deng Lejun are among the diverse array of golfers competing in this week’s RMB1 million Dell Championship, the Omega China Tour’s season-opening event。

　　Han, who hails from Shenzhen, wanted to compete in the Dell Championship after hearing about the Tour from fellow Chinese prodigy Hu Mu, the David Leadbetter student who played on last year’s circuit before teeing up at the University of Florida。

　　“I see Hu Mu in competitions some time and he said he had enjoyed the atmosphere on the Omega China Tour,” said 20-year-old Han, the first mainlander to play NCAA golf. “I have spring break at the moment, which meant I could come back and play in the Dell Championship。”

　　Han, who moved to Canada in 2003, earned fame as the first Chinese amateur to make the cut on the European Tour when he enjoyed weekend play in the 2007 Volvo China Open. After starting a golf scholarship at Indiana in August that year, Han helped the ‘Hoosiers’ advance to last year’s NCAA Regional and National Championships。

　　Casas, the 2001 Philippine Open champion and a former Asian Tour regular, heads a four-strong contingent from Southeast Asia in Xiamen this week as part of one of the Tour’s new initiatives。

　　Up to five players from the Mercedes-Benz Tour and up to 10 from the PGA Tour of Australasia will be invited to each event this year, although the latter group will only start competing from the second event onwards。

　　Casas, who also coaches the Philippine national team, won the B-ing Championship in Thailand on last year’s Mercedes-Benz Tour and will represent the Southeast Asian circuit with Thai duo Wittawat Sae-ung and Passamet Pokamnerd。

　　“I’m really excited to be here. As soon as I received the invitation, I signed up straight away. It took me one minute to make up my mind and I will definitely come back if there are more invitations in the future,” said Casas, easily recognisable with his dyed-blond hair。

　　The Tour will also be boosted by the presence of the China national team of amateurs, who will be invited to compete at every Omega China Tour event。

　　The team first competed on the circuit at last September’s Luxehills Golf Championship, where Zhang Xinjun stole the pros’ thunder by leading after the second and third rounds before eventually finishing fourth。

　　Kevin Huang Wenyi, David Wei Wei and Huo Wei finished sixth, joint-ninth and joint-13th respectively at Luxehills, and the quartet are joined in Xiamen by Xiao Se, Liu Yuxiang and Zhou Guowu。

　　“It’s great that we’ll be playing regularly on the Omega China Tour this year,” said Zhang, 21. “I’ve been playing well recently and have been working on my game with Jim Johnson, our national team coach. I did well in last year’s events, especially at Luxehills, and it would be great if I could win an event this year。

　　“I’d love to play with Zhang Lianwei, as I’ve never played with him before. I played with Tsai Chi-huang all four days at Luxehills so I’d also like to play with one of the Chinese Taipei pros, as I can learn a lot from them。”

　　Deng will be one of the event’s most popular players following a successful football career that included representing China at the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Italy, victory in the 1996 FA Cup with Beijing Guo’an, and a league and cup double with Shandong Luneng in 1999。

　　After gaining his professional status at a qualifying tournament last October, six years after taking up the game, the 37-year-old is excited about playing in his first competitive tournament as a pro golfer。

　　“I just love golf. I started playing football when I was seven, but if I had known about golf when I was young, I would not have been a footballer,” said the Beijing-born Deng, who is good friends with Li Chao, the two-time Omega Order of Merit winner。

　　“I don’t really have any particular aims this week because it’s all new to me. I just want to enjoy the event. I hope that later in the year I will make the cut at one of the events。”

　　Li, the defending champion, Zhang, Asian Tour star Alex Wu Ashun and experienced Chinese Taipei pros Lu Wen-teh and Lin Keng-chi are among the favourites this week。