Liang works on passing the baton

Farmer's son Liang Wenchong beat all the odds to become China's top golfer - now he's hoping to sow the seeds for a new generation of mainland players.

Born into a family of Guangdong peasants, Liang would rise at 5am to practise for a couple of hours before helping on the farm. His goal now is to try to get the development of Chinese golfers to approach the rate of development of mainland golf courses.

New facilities seem to sprout every week, but elite players are in short supply. While Taiwan has the best women's golfer in Tseng Ya-ni, South Korea the first Asian major winner in Yang yong-eun and Japan a player tipped to be golf's next superstar in Ryo Ishikawa, China has Liang, his mentor Zhang Lianwei and . . . well, that's about it.

But that could be about to change after golf was included in the Olympics, says Liang, who gave China hope of its first major in 2010 when he broke the course record at Whistling Straits in the US PGA Championship before finishing eighth. Admitting he would probably still be toiling in the fields were it not for happy circumstance, he now aims to pay back some of that good fortune.

'Since its inclusion in the Olympics the government has put more effort into it, not only at the national level, but also each province now has a team to support the young players,' the 33-year-old said.

'I think this is a very good sign, and China has also formed a national team so there's a good culture and the right support networks in place to get some opportunities for these players to play on the European and Japanese Tours.

'I'm very lucky because I grew up near the first golf course in China, Chung Shan Hot Springs,' says Liang. 'They had a pretty good training system during that early stage. I didn't need to pay anything to learn, the course provided training, coaching and equipment for nothing so I'm pretty lucky.