Caddie's Role: Although golf is not a brand new game in China you can still smell the paint drying on the sport in the People's Republic.
We were in Shanghai last week for the BMW Asian Open. Taking an average of the numbers quoted to me about the population here my guess is there are 20 million inhabitants, but there could well be the odd extra million hiding beyond the 4,000 buildings over 30 floors high in the city, who knows?
Shanghai is a sophisticated city with a lot of architectural influence from Europe and a very noticeable French style prevalent. As with many modern cities of the East you can often be hard-pressed to figure out what part of the world you are in when you venture out of your very tall hotel and on to the streets.
I was situated on Nanjing Xi Lu and as I wandered out on my arrival last Monday it took me a lot of side-stepping of what looked like the capitalist version of the long march of the nation before I came across what I had imagined the city was like a few decades ago. Most of the pedestrians had fancy looking shopping bags flapping at their shanks. I passed more designer shops than I have in New York, Paris or Rome on this one street and the prices did not reflect the average wage of a Chinese person.
Instead of a traditional Chinese tea shop I settled for refreshment in the global cafeteria, Starbucks. I gave up looking for China last Monday afternoon and decided the atmospheric early morning may be a better time to capture the local mood. It was.
Through the relatively clear air of dawn the sheen of a sword that an elderly gentleman was wielding in unison with his colleague, while performing their daily Tai Chi ritual, caught my eye. They were waking up outside the palatial exhibition centre which was a legacy from the old Shanghai. Virtually on every corner that had space enough to stretch your legs the more mature citizens were exhibiting the equilibrium that this form of exercise promotes into old age. Somehow against the back-drop of a futuristic skyscraper this scene of traditional exercise looks like it is not far from being snuffed out by air-conditioned gyms within the new structures.
There were a lot of dog walkers contemplating life's complexities as their pets poohed. I was led to believe the Chinese didn't walk their dogs just woked them. Not so in Shanghai. I swerved down an alleyway into what my hotel must have been referring to as being situated in the heart of the city's historical past. I was welcomed by the sound of the nation's throat-clearing process. There was a lot of hacking and hooping going on in the hutongs. Food was being prepared outside what looked like home kitchen windows. Both the smell and sight of it made me grateful for the modern day transformation of the area and the western buffet awaiting me back in my contemporary world of luxury.
The trip from the town centre to the Tomson golf course was about as predictable as the drivers themselves in a country rapidly catching on to car ownership, if not the correct use of it. They seem to drive as chaotically as if they were on their bicycles and the impact of a collision would cause nothing more than a buckled mud-guard, best to put the blinkers on as a somewhat anxious passenger. If you could picture a living version of the Wacky Races you can imagine what I mean. The trip varied from 25 minutes to an hour and 25 minutes.
On the way to the course amongst other acts of transportation suicide, I was bemused by the sight of a rickshaw overloaded with three massive sacks and supported by three outriders cradling the load like horse handlers trying to push a stubborn race horse into the starting stall. This primitive form of transport was heaving its way by the international expo centre where the Shanghai Car Show was about to commence later last week. The scene was in stark contrast to the streamlined machines that were being polished and buffed inside the huge exhibition halls.
The golf course was situated just a very short drift in the car-show blimps that chugged their way above the exhibition air space. It was the southwest wind on which the VW blimp careered right above the 15th fairway as my player, Retief Goosen, stood up to his tee shot there last Friday. Given that BMW had paid good money to host their golf event shrouded in their prestigious logo, it would seem to have been more than coincidental that the VW blimp just happened to drift above the course while the television cameras were rolling.
Given our proximity to the car show an early tee-time on Saturday gave Retief and I the opportunity to visit the show that afternoon. It was officially media day so it was not going to be too crowded. I was surprised that nobody tried to sell me a car but as I perused the Cadillac stand I was amused that a local "journalist" tried to sell me a fake watch.
I am not a motor buff but even I noticed a remarkable similarity to more recognisable global brands in some of the Chinese-manufactured cars. There was one local manufacturer which I nonchalantly assumed to be BMW with its distinctive blue, white and black badge. I looked closer and realised it was a Chinese car-maker with, coincidentally, the same sort of idea as the Bavarians.
There are 60 Chinese car manufacturers. You can buy a new car for less than €4,000, a pretend BMW for a lot less than the real thing but the chances are you will get there quicker on your bike, which will cost you less than €15. But you will probably have to leave it outside the gates of the golf course, as it's bad for the image of the game with its glossed veneer still drying.
