TWELVE-YEAR-OLD Chinese golf prodigy Ye Wocheng ensured he will smash the record for youngest player at a European Tour event when he came through a qualifying tournament today.
The Dongguan schoolboy was able to card a triple-bogey eight and still finish third with a two-day score of two-under-par 142 at Chengdu’s Wolong Valley Country Club, punching his ticket to the Volvo China Open in May.
Ye follows Masters-bound Guan Tianlang and Florida-based Andy Zhang, both 14, to become part of the group of young stars emerging from China. Guan holds the current European Tour age record after he played last year’s China Open in Tianjin at 13 years and 177 days. Hong Kong’s Jason Hak became the tour’s youngest cut-maker, aged 14 and 304 days, at the 2008 Hong Kong Open.
Despite international victories by the likes of veterans Liang Wenchong and Zhang Lianwei, China has only three players in the world’s top 650, confounding hopes the country’s golfers would quickly make a big impact on the sport.
However, China’s teen and pre-teen players are now leading the charge, with Andy Zhang setting the trend when he became the youngest to tee off at the US Open last year. In April, Guan will attract more headlines when he becomes the youngest to play the US Masters, lowering the 2010 record of Italy’s Matteo Manassero, who was 16 at the time, by a distance.
