While I didn’t play any tournament golf last week, we were very busy visiting an array of different countries here in Asia.
We were in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen for an enjoyable couple of days with Chairman Du Sha and the rest of the team at Pacific Links International (pictured above). Throughout the visit we met some lovely people and honestly we were quite taken aback by the warmth of the hospitality and the effort that went into hosting us. My personal thanks go to everyone involved and I look forward to visiting you all again soon.
Either side of those engagements we first viewed the site in Vietnam of our first ever Els Performance Golf Academy, which we covered in detail in my previous report. Later in the week we then visited an exciting new golf course design project at the beautiful Lido Lakes in Jakarta, where we managed to do some great work on the final shaping for the front nine holes (pictured below) and also finalized the design elements for the back nine. Huge thanks to our client, MNC Land, who are building what will be the finest golf resort in Jakarta, and to the guys at IMG Golf Services who are doing a superb job for us on the construction side. It was also fun spending time with Eric Trump and seeing the ideas he has for the clubhouse and general operations.
We then had a relatively short trip to Kuala Lumpur at the start of this week for my next tournament, the CIMB Classic. With it being a part of the 2015-16 PGA Tour schedule, this is probably one of Malaysia’s biggest international sporting events and as such is a wonderful showcase for golf in this part of the world. It’s obviously a big factor in helping further grow the game here, too.
As people will know, I’ve always been a passionate believer in the top players having a duty to promote the game worldwide, which is part of the reason I’ve travelled so much throughout my career. That and the fact that I’ve always really enjoyed it. It’s good to see that so many more of the top players now feel the same way. That’s why we’ve got such an eclectic and international field for the CIMB Classic, with guys from every continent teeing it up here this week. That also reflects well on the quality of these co-sanctioned events in Asia. Everything is absolutely first rate and the players are looked after so well.
I must say I really look forward to these weeks. I played this tournament in 2010 and finished tied-5th, although that was on a different golf course, and was further back when we played here in 2013, but I have some very fond memories of the tournament as a whole. All of us assembled here in Kuala Lumpur are in for another great week, there’s no doubt about that. And we’ve got a wonderful venue in the Kuala Lumpur G&CC, which has the rare distinction of having hosted events on the PGA Tour, European Tour, Asian Tour and LPGA Tour.
I hope I can channel some of the form that I showed in Scotland earlier this month into my performance here in Malaysia. They are very different playing conditions, that goes without saying, but if I can get on a bit of a roll early in the tournament and get some confidence going, then we can ride that wave. As always, I am teeing it up to win and my motivation levels, and the goals I set myself, are still very high.
Finally, just a quick word about the Rugby World Cup. Obviously it was disappointing for the Springboks that they didn’t make it to the final, but it was a mighty effort in the semis against the All Blacks. I’m sure I speak for everyone in South Africa in saying we are proud of the way the team and the management conducted themselves throughout this competition; they gave it everything and there’s no shame in losing to a team of the caliber of the All Blacks. There’s a reason, plenty of reasons actually, that they’re rated the finest team on the planet.
Okay, that’s about it for now. Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.
