Leaney hopeful at Midea China Classic
Asian Tour | 2009 Midea China Classic | Preview | 15 Oct 2009
Australian Stephen Leaney, the 2003 US Open runner-up, believes he can end the misery of an injury-plagued 18 months as he makes his China debut in tomorrow’s US$500,000 Midea China Classic, the third event of the inaugural OneAsia season.
Leaney, who lost his US PGA Tour card in July after competing on a medical exemption, continues his comeback by taking on Chinese stars Liang Wenchong and Zhang Lianwei at the Royal Orchid International Golf Club in Shunde, south of Guangzhou.
“I definitely give myself a chance, especially as the course suits me. It’s quite tight and a great design,” said Leaney, who will play the first two rounds with Liang and Korean Yu Gyoung-yoon.
“I haven’t won for a while, but I’ve won a lot of tournaments before, so I just have to get myself into contention by Sunday. I played all right in India last week, but didn’t score as well as I deserved,” added Leaney, who finished joint 36th in the Hero Honda India Open.
Leaney played with great success in Australia and Asia for much of the 1990s, winning seven PGA Tour of Australasia events. He then played on the European Tour from 1998-2003, winning four titles and finishing in the top 15 on the Order of Merit three times.
Leaney played full-time on the PGA Tour from 2004 before losing his card after an injury-plagued season last year, when a wrist injury was followed by a vertigo condition and he didn’t play for six months.
This year, he competed till July on medical exemptions, but made just two cuts in 11 events and is now trying to rebuild his career.
“The last 18 months or so have been really tough, so it would be nice to win in my first appearance on OneAsia, which I think is a great concept. The first year is always the hardest, so I expect it to get bigger and better,” said Leaney, whose last victory was the 2002 German Masters.
“I’m looking forward to playing a lot of good Asian players this week. A lot of Aussies have come up this week and we look forward to the top Asians coming down for the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship in December,” he added.
Liang, Asia’s number one in 2007 and joint runner-up in last month’s Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open in Japan, will be gunning for his first victory in the Midea China Classic, which was won by Thai legend Thaworn Wiratchant in 2007 and Korean teenager Noh Seung-yul last year.
Liang, Zhang, the 2006 champion, and Yuan Hao, who beat Zhang in a play-off in the inaugural event, are among the local stars in Shunde, which is Midea’s home base.
The final events on the OneAsia calendar for 2009 are the Australian Open to be held from 3-6 December at New South Wales Golf Club followed by the season-ending Australian PGA Championship presented by Coca-Cola, to be held from 10-13 December at Hyatt Regency Coolum in Queensland.
OneAsia plans to offer 12-15 events next year and 17-20 annually from 2011 and beyond.
Source – OneAsia
