One of the advantages of the AmEx world strokeplay championship, cancelled after the tragic events in America last week, having been scheduled to be played in St Louis last week was that there was room in the Korean Open for some golfers with a profile, but not ranked high enough to merit a place in the Missouri event.
Although the Koreans did not get current "stars", in Nick Faldo and Paul Lawrie they did get ex- Open champions. The Koreans had a couple of stars and they were going to treat them with pomp and ceremony. Having travelled independently to Lawrie, Faldo and his celebrity caddie Fanny Sunesson, I was not able to experience the first-class service from Europe and the ceremonious welcome at Seoul's two-month old Incheon Airport as the distinguished guests arrived. It was a major event; TV cameras, musicians and a red carpet.
I could well believe it, judging by my own welcome earlier last Tuesday. Mr Yeon Sik Moon was eagerly awaiting my arrival with a big sign for "Mr Colin".
As he tried to grab both my bags and head for the exit, I assured him I was very capable of lugging my own luggage, bearing in mind my profession. We waited outside the airport as Mr Moon made a phone call. A few seconds later a shining black BMW with shaded windows glided towards us and stopped. Were there some dignitaries about I wondered? I slowly realised the smooth motor was for little old me.
Our chauffeur emerged dressed in a black suit befitting of the car. Prominent jaw muscles, suave well-groomed shiny black hair, obligatory dark glasses and a communication ear-piece. A Jackie Chan movie character sprung to my unclear mind.
My duffel bag didn't quite match the sophistication of the car, it wasn't black leather. I sat in the back seat with Mr Moon. He asked me if I wanted to watch a DVD which was built into the headrest of the driver's seat. I declined, feeling like I was starring in my own sort of movie and did not wish to be interrupted in my enjoyment of it.
Unfortunately I fell asleep on the way out of the airport and drifted back into consciousness as we arrived at the Swiss Grand Hotel in north west Seoul. Mr Moon escorted me to the 11th floor, the executive floor, where I was welcomed and shown to my very plush room. Last time I was in this country I was sleeping on the floor, in the rougher end of the capital.
I didn't even have to press my bedside button that operated the curtains to see the stars in this palatial residence. So this is the treatment you can expect when you caddie for a player that wins a major. The spin-offs carry through for years after the success. I for one cannot knock it. The reality for those players who are regulars on the Asian Tour is far from chauffeurs and luxurious hotels. It's more like crowded, crawling and inconvenient bus journeys back to a city centre sweat-box.
The Asian tour has been a traditional breeding ground for young hopefuls who couldn't make the European or American tours. Payne Stewart, Kirk Triplett and Jeff Maggert, amongst others, all did their time in Asia and graduated quickly to where they had aspired to be, namely back home.
Today with secondary tours in both the US and Europe there is not such a need for so many young players to go through the rigours of Asia. They can learn their trade closer to home. Today the Asian Tour is more dominated by local players.
There is still a reasonable Western contingent; Americans, Australians, South Africans and some Europeans are represented here. In fact I recognised some faces from the time I had been here back in the late 1980s. Mainly these were wet-behind-the-ear Americans, straight out of college who would wear their sponsored visors out for dinner if they were not reminded to take them off.
These young bucks had every intention of spending a brief term there and getting back quickly to "the World" and the tour where they felt they belonged. Well the dream has faded for many of those novices and I returned after 12 years to find many of them "institutionalised" on the Asian Tour.
Some of them are living in Thailand, speaking Thai and eating fish soup instead of pancakes and syrup for breakfast - south east Asia is now their world. Nothing wrong with the change, of course, south east Asia understandably, has a lot of advantages that make Westerners want to adapt to the Asian way of life. It was just a revelation for me to see such luminaries of the group over a decade ago today blending into the throng so benignly through years of adopting a certain amount of Asian humility.
