China’s Dou Zecheng eyes Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games berth after rankings rise
The 19-year-old PGA Tour China Series order of merit leader is now the mainland’s second highest ranked player behind Wu Ashun
New teenage China number two Dou Zecheng will not pay much attention to the world rankings until they matter – when it comes time to decide who will represent the Olympic-mad nation at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
With the game returning to the fold for the first time in 112 years in Rio de Janeiro in August, golf's pecking order has taken on an added meaning with selection for the 60-man field in Brazil determined by the world rankings.
Wu Ashun and Li Haotong were China’s two representatives in Brazil with the mainland eligible for two places, with the pair finishing 30th and 50th respectively.
But if the rankings had been taken now, Wu would be joined by new world number 180 Dou after the 19-year-old claimed a highly respectable joint 40th place at last week’s star-studded WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.
“The ranking points last for two years and the Olympics will be 2020, so as the main thing for world rankings is to get into the Olympics, I won’t think about it until 2018,” said Dou ahead of this week’s PGA Tour China Series Clearwater Bay Open in Hong Kong.