China must grow grassroots, says pioneer Pyatt

BEIJING, Apr 19 (Reuters) Chinese golf officials still need to develop a proper structure to spread the game at the grassroots level, according to a pioneer of the professional game in the world's most populous country.

Mel Pyatt, who announced his retirement last weekend after 20 years running Volvo's event management and 13 years of the China Open, said golf had come a long way since he first pitched up in China and that education was the key to making the next step.

''I think the challenge to the Chinese is the education, there must be educational programmes run by the China Golf Association to grow grassroot golf in China,'' Pyatt told Reuters in an interview at the China Open in Shanghai.

''That's vitally important and I don't think they have that structure in place yet. They have to deliver that to all the major cities.'' The progress already made was illustrated when China got its second winner of a European Tour event last month, Liang Wenchong matching Zhang Lianwei's 2003 triumph at the Singapore Masters.

Pyatt believes more players must come through if the China Open, which he created in 1995, is to reach its potential.

''I think it will take another 10 years to make its mark on the world map but it all depends on the development of players,'' he said.

Pyatt was particularly pleased that seven Chinese had made the cut last week in Shanghai compared to two last year in Beijing, and that one of those was 18-year-old amateur Han Ren, who has just won a golf scholarship to Indiana University.

''What you're going to see is a surge in good Chinese players coming through, not only the ones training in American universities,'' added the Englishman, who will be 61 this year.

ASIAN TIGERS A former professional who took over Volvo's event management when they started sponsoring the European Tour in 1987, Pyatt can genuinely claim to be the godfather of professional golf in China.

''In 1994, I noticed the economic situation with the Asian tigers and China...and Europe was fairly stagnant,'' he said.

A whirlwind 10-day tour of Asia ensued and within a year the China Open was teeing off at the Beijing International.

''I met the China Golf Association (CGA) and said 'If you create an open championship of China we'll sponsor it for five years guaranteed at 0,000 prize money','' he recalled.

''They'd never had live TV golf and at three o'clock we were all around the TV, we didn't know if it would work, and then the pictures came up and I can tell you there were tears in our eyes.

''That really set the benchmark and we were ahead of all the competitors, nobody came for another nine years.'' Things have changed greatly since those days when mainland China had just eight golf courses -- there are more than 350 today -- and, in the absence of golf carts, television crews travelled around the course on bicycles.

Plenty of tournaments with bulging prize purses have followed since and four European Tour events will be held in China this year, some offering large amounts of appearance money to attract the biggest names in the game.

Volvo has never paid appearance fees at its sponsored events as a matter of principle and, though it has a weaker field than other events, Pyatt believes the China Open still has a unique position in Chinese golf.

''This will be in their country for another hundred years,'' he said. ''Other tournaments will come and go depending on the market conditions at that time.

''I always tell the Chinese, this is your championship, it displays your country, it displays your culture ... an open championship has values and traditions, this will go on for years and years and years.'' TRIBUTE DINNER Apart from seeing those television pictures in 1995, Pyatt's other great moment was when China's Cheng Jun won in 1997.

''That was tremendous, that really put golf on the map in China, that gave it awareness,'' he said. ''We were really fortunate and then Zhang Lianwei won in 2003 and we were really running.'' Chen, Zhang and Liang were on hand to shower Pyatt with plaudits at a dinner in Shanghai last weekend and the Asian Tour's executive chairman Kyi Hla Han, a former professional who played the first China Open, added his tribute.

''I'm a big fan of Mel,'' the Burmese told Reuters. ''He's been a big supporter of golf in Asia and put a lot of time, effort and money into professional golf.

''It's sad to see him retire but I'm sure he'll still be involved and I'm sure he'll always be happy to come back and help us out.'' Although Pyatt concedes that it is time to move on, it would take something pretty special to keep him away next year.

''It's something that I personally created, it's something that I had the ambition and the drive to do, I'm a bit of a pioneering spirit,'' Pyatt said.

''It's become like a part of my family and I protect it like a family member.'' REUTERS SAM PM0935