Cheng's been to hell and back but he won't give up his first love

If Cheng Jun could hit the rewind button on his career, he would transport himself back to May 18, 1997, at Beijing International Golf Club. On that day Cheng proved he could score as well as he could swing by becoming the first homegrown winner of the Volvo China Open.

The fairway to fame and fortune opened up invitingly for a player with the sweetest swing in Asia at the time.

But it all went horribly wrong for the hugely gifted Cheng as, in a collapse of Ian Baker-Finch proportions, he missed cut after cut and his promising career went into freefall.

Just how far he plummeted was apparent at last year's Volvo China Open when Cheng made a guest-playing appearance a decade on from his famous win. His winning score 10 years earlier was eight-under-par 280 but Cheng struggled badly in the European Tour field at Shanghai Silport and finished bottom of the pile with a 26-over-par total of 168, following horror rounds of 82 and 86.

Cheng, now co-owner and general manager of Tianan Golf Club in Beijing, visibly flinches to this day when recalling the dark months and years that followed his brightest moment in the game.

Cheng's story of how his blossoming career withered and died is both sobering and cautionary, although he stresses if he had his time again, golf would still be his sport of choice.