Story and pictures from Omega China Tour

October 12, 2008: Zhou Jun, 24, became the Omega China Tour’s youngest-ever champion after a closing one-under-par 71 completed his remarkable wire-to-wire victory in the RMB1 million Omega Championship, the circuit’s season-ending event.

The Tianjin-based pro finished with a six-under total of 282, a full seven strokes clear of Wu Kangchun, his former national teammate and playing partner for the fourth successive day at the Beijing Longxi Hotspring Golf Club

Wu, 27, also shot a closing 71 for his best result on Tour since winning last year’s Sofitel Golf Championship in his first event as a pro. Chinese Taipei’s Chan Yih-shin, 31, finished third on two-over after a 77.

Zhou picked up a cheque for RMB187,500 after winning the Tour’s richest event, which also helped him leap to third on the 2008 Omega Order Merit with RMB263,300.

Liao Guiming was also in celebratory mood after securing his first Omega Order of Merit title, having first led the money list in early September following his third successive top-two finish.

Liao, who finished 17th in Beijing after a closing 73, won a total of RMB375,125 to finish ahead of Zhang Lianwei (RMB330,000), the 2006 Omega Order of Merit winner.

Liao succeeds Li Chao, who could have won his third Omega Order of Merit in four seasons if he had won in Beijing, but finished fourth on three-over after a closing 72. The Beijing-born 28-year-old also finished fourth on the money list with RMB243,000.

Zhou, though, was the hero of the hour at the Omega Championship, where he was embraced by his friends and former national team coach Song Qingli after his breakthrough victory, which came two weeks after his previous best finish of fourth at the Tianjin Championship.

“I can’t believe this. I’m really surprised I played so well again and I’ve just had an amazing week. I’ve been playing really well since I spent the summer training with Mr Song (Qingli). He’s helped me so much,” said Zhou, who started the week equally wide-eyed after his opening 69, his first-ever bogey-free round.

“Now I just want to spend all of Monday in bed because I’m so tired after playing tournaments for five weeks in a row. I also didn’t sleep so well last night because I was playing cards with Mr Song and Wu Kangchun. Mr Song beat me at cards, but said it was better I lost at night than on the final day.”

The pencil-slim Zhou shared pole position after each of the first two rounds before shooting two clear of Chan on day three with a 70. Zhou then stretched his lead to five after birdieing the first two holes, while Chan bogeyed the first.

“To be honest, I never even thought about winning at the beginning of the day. However, after two holes, the pressure was more on Chan and I knew I didn’t have to play aggressively or push for birdies,” said Zhou, who led by as many as eight strokes during the round.

“I also really enjoyed playing with Wu again and who knows if I would have played so well playing with anyone else. Playing with him made me so relaxed as we just enjoyed ourselves like during our national team training days.”

Chan was unable to continue the recent run of success by Chinese Taipei players, who had won four of the previous five events on the Omega China Tour.

The 31-year-old secured his third top-three finish after finishing joint-runner with compatriot Hsu Mong-nan in the season-opening Guangzhou Championship and third in the Dell Championship in Xiamen, won by Li.

The Omega Championship was held for the first time at the 27-hole Beijing Longxi Hotspring Golf Club after two successful editions at the Tianan Golf Club, also in the capital, when Liang Wenchong and Zhang Lianwei emerged as champions.

Liao was crowned as the 2008 Omega Order of Merit champion and a host of other award winners were honoured during Sunday evening’s Omega China Tour Gala Dinner at the Sofitel Wanda Beijing.

Omega Championship, Omega China Tour
Leading final-round scores (Chinese unless stated):
282 - Zhou Jun 69-72-70-71
289 - Wu Kangchun 72-70-76-71
290 - Chan Yih-shin (TPE) 72-71-70-77
291 - Li Chao 72-74-73-72
293 - He Shaocai 75-77-75-66, Fu Xin 72-75-73-73, Chen Xiaoma 71-77-72-73
294 - Xiao Zhijin 73-74-74-73, Xing Xiaoxuan 73-68-77-76
295 - Liu Anda 76-76-73-70
296 - Liu Guojie 75-75-71-75
297 - Liu Xin 76-75-76-70, Hao Chunxi 75-77-74-71, Fan Zhipeng 74-76-74-73, Chen Jian 72-74-77-74, Gu Cuilin 73-76-74-74
298 - Liao Guiming 72-72-81-73, Jason Robertson (RSA) 76-73-76-73
299 - Deng Yonghong 75-77-75-72, Yuan Hao 74-74-76-75, Nick Redfern (ENG) 70-76-76-77, Sun Peng 73-73-75-78
300 - Liu Junfeng 72-77-78-73, Deng Yuchao 75-78-76-71

Selected scores:
301 - Hsu Mong-nan (TPE) 71-80-74-76
302 - Jovick Lee Wing-kei (HKG) 75-76-72-79
305 - Wong Woon-man (HKG) 71-76-79-79      
304 - Jim Johnson (USA) 74-79-80-71       
309 - Garth Cusick (AUS) 76-77-81-75    

From Golf Digest Singapore Oct 2008 issue