How one man's vision put sport on course to riches and respect

Golf was virtually unheard of on the mainland 30 years ago - banned as a prime example of western decadence. Now, it is a popular game among the rich and famous, and a growing spectator sport.

The annual HSBC Championships in Shanghai attracted nationwide attention this month when Spain's Sergio Garcia became the world's No 2 player, behind Tiger Woods, by winning the event and US$833,300 in prize money.

But the favoured sport of bankers and businessmen had a rocky start. In 1980, two years after the Chinese leadership embarked on the path of reform, Henry Fok Ying-tung founded the Zhongshan Hot Spring Resort in the remote village of Yongmo in Zhongshan. Soon afterwards, Fok and property tycoon Cheng Yu-tung formed a consortium to build the mainland's first golf course, near the resort, and established its first golf team.

The decision sparked controversy. The official Reference News ran an article shortly after Zhongshan's government discussed Fok's plan, criticising the game as a 'bourgeois sport' that wasted land, according to an article in the Zhongshan Daily.

Aware of the threats a golf course might pose to farmland, Fok decided it would be built on a hill, where the soil was too poor for agriculture.

Fok, a vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference who died in October 2006, spent HK$27 million building the golf course, believing it and the others which would follow would be essential to China's economic reform.

He built an 18-hole course to international standards. Initially it was viewed more as a way to bring in foreign currency than to attract locals to the game. Today the course has more than 500 members, including mainland residents, Americans, Singaporeans and Japanese. It is also very popular with weekend Hong Kong golfers.