17歲那年，竇澤成知道他應(yīng)該轉(zhuǎn)為職業(yè)選手。在父母的支持下，他放棄了念到一半的高中，刻苦練球。那時，他的球技足以跟職業(yè)球手相媲美。

竇澤成身高約1.8米，體重約70公斤，看不去比一般的職業(yè)高爾夫球手瘦弱一些?？刹⒉粡?qiáng)壯的他卻有著極其兇悍的揮桿力量，甚至在去年上海站的一場比賽引起了美巡賽(PGA Tour)中揮桿最猛的巴巴·沃森的注意。竇澤成在這場比賽的最終排名高于明星級球手亞當(dāng)·斯科特和松田松山。

“他一點(diǎn)不怯場。” 沃森驚嘆道。“揮桿如此迅猛的亞洲選手不多見?！?/p>

暫且拋開這位兩次美國名人賽桂冠得主的夸獎。19歲的竇澤成目前是中國首屈一指的球手，并且有望很快成為第一位在全球頂級賽事打球的中國高爾夫球手。他小時候曾在加拿大生活了五年，但他打算避開一條經(jīng)過其他亞洲高爾夫新星檢驗(yàn)的可行路徑，即首先進(jìn)入一所美國學(xué)院，然后在美國打青少年巡回賽，最終躋身職業(yè)球手之列。朋友們給他講述了很多關(guān)于美國學(xué)院夜生活的故事，比如喝酒，泡妞，等等。竇澤成的父親，一位日間交易員，認(rèn)為他需要在中國心無旁騖，安安靜靜地練球?！拔視诱n的，我可受不了各種派對的誘惑?！备]澤成笑著說。

Marty Dou knew at 17 years old that he should turn professional. He had been skipping half his high school classes to play, with his parents’ blessing, and by then his game was good enough to keep up with the pros.

At maybe 5-foot-9 and 150 pounds, Marty (his given name is Zecheng, but everybody calls him Marty) looks smaller than your typical pro golfer. But his size belies a swing so aggressive that even Bubba Watson, the PGA Tour’s hardest swinger, took notice at a tournament in Shanghai last year where the two played together—and where Marty finished higher than stars Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama.

“He has no fear,” Watson marveled. “We don’t often see an Asian-born player swinging that hard.”

Compliments from a two-time Masters winner aside, Marty, now 19, is currently the best golfer playing in China—and could soon become the first mainland Chinese golfer to compete at the top global level. He spent five years of his childhood in Canada, but he’s skipping the tried-and-true route taken by other Asian golf stars to the pros of enrolling in a U.S. college before playing junior tours in America. Friends told him stories about American college nightlife, with its drinking and hookups. His dad, a day trader, thought he needed quiet practice in China. “I’d skip school,” Marty says, laughing. “I’m too tempted by parties.”

幸運(yùn)的是，他不必離開中國，也有機(jī)會在最大的高爾夫舞臺一試身手。2014年，作為全球最著名的高爾夫組織，美國職業(yè)高爾夫協(xié)會(PGA)開始舉辦美巡中國系列賽。這項(xiàng)職業(yè)聯(lián)賽將給予有前途的年輕球員一個登上美國更高競爭舞臺的機(jī)會。它相當(dāng)于美國2A棒球小聯(lián)盟：球員們可以先在中國磨煉幾年，如果他們的表現(xiàn)足夠好，就可自動進(jìn)軍另一個僅比美巡賽低一個級別的聯(lián)賽。反過來，中國系列賽則為高爾夫運(yùn)動提供了它迫切需要的東西：一個龐大且不斷壯大的中產(chǎn)階級群體。正是這一群體，使得中國成為這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動一個巨大的增長機(jī)會。

迄今為止，以揮桿迅猛著稱的竇澤成，已經(jīng)斬獲中國系列賽本賽季9站比賽中的4站冠軍。憑借這一傲人的成績，他明年注定將趕赴美國，角逐更高水平的職業(yè)聯(lián)賽，從而有望成為中華人民共和國第一位全程參加美巡賽的高爾夫球手。在中國，高爾夫運(yùn)動能否像竇澤成一樣迅速崛起，是一個事關(guān)數(shù)十億美元的問題。

★

在一個擁有14億人口的國家，這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動的潛力肯定與任何人的想象一樣巨大。中國的高爾夫玩家估計在100萬人左右，僅是美國2400萬高爾夫人口的一小部分。倘若只有2%的中國人打高爾夫（這項(xiàng)比例目前還不到0.1%），中國就可能成為一個每年價值20億美元的高爾夫產(chǎn)品市場。對于這個在美國和歐洲的增速已陷于停滯的產(chǎn)業(yè)來說，這真可謂天賜良機(jī)。在美國和歐洲，諸如耐克和阿迪達(dá)斯這類制造商正在放棄高爾夫設(shè)備業(yè)務(wù)，許多球場岌岌可危。

中國擁有一項(xiàng)世界其他任何地方都不具備的條件：一個財富迅速增長，首次考慮打高爾夫的人口?，F(xiàn)如今，許多高爾夫教練已經(jīng)從歐美涌向這里，每節(jié)課收取高達(dá)600美元的費(fèi)用。練習(xí)場人頭攢動，擠滿了第一次拿起球桿的準(zhǔn)球員。

但在中國，高爾夫運(yùn)動的發(fā)展面臨政治、經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化等因素的層層掣肘。在過去三年，習(xí)近平主席發(fā)起的反腐運(yùn)動早已將矛頭指向這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動，部分原因是高爾夫球場是腐敗官員最喜歡的聚會場所。不斷加大的審查力度導(dǎo)致數(shù)十家球場關(guān)閉，這一現(xiàn)象很可能危及尚處于嬰兒期的美巡中國系列賽。

甚至在政治風(fēng)向轉(zhuǎn)變之前，高爾夫就在中國面臨先天劣勢。首當(dāng)其沖的是，土地極度稀缺。盡管自2000年以來，中國各地掀起了一股高爾夫球場建設(shè)熱潮，但全國目前僅有600家球場，遠(yuǎn)低于美國的1.5萬家。幾乎沒有一個是那種收費(fèi)相對低廉，適合初學(xué)者的市政球場。幾乎所有球場都是遠(yuǎn)離市中心，大門緊閉，有保安巡視的私人俱樂部。周末玩一輪高爾夫動輒需要200美元，甚或更多，是美國正常水平的4倍或5倍。要知道，一位典型的中國城市居民每年只有約5000美元的可支配收入。

其結(jié)果是，中國的初學(xué)者皆屬最富裕的1%人口群體。就推廣一項(xiàng)體育運(yùn)動的人氣而言，這絕非那種最理想的玩家基礎(chǔ)。在20世紀(jì)20年代（所謂的“鍍金時代”）的美國，高爾夫同樣是富人的專利，但這項(xiàng)休閑運(yùn)動很快就成星火燎原之勢。在PGA副總裁，大中華區(qū)董事總經(jīng)理葛國瑞看來，PGA在中國的發(fā)展，總得從某個地方開始?！爸袊M(fèi)者很渴望參與這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動?！痹诿姥操愋麻_設(shè)的駐北京辦事處接受《財富》專訪時，他這樣說道。當(dāng)天只有兩位工作人員在這個狹小的房間辦公：葛國瑞本人，外加一位接待員?！霸囅胍幌拢绻粋€人的可支配收入持續(xù)上漲，那會是什么情形？我想到的是一位走在大街上的女士，她肩背Prada包，身穿Gucci襯衫，一只手端著一杯星巴克咖啡，另一只手拿著iPhone手機(jī)。對于她來說，下一個目標(biāo)是什么？”

葛國瑞希望她的下一個目標(biāo)是一把閃亮的高爾夫球桿。他的職責(zé)不僅僅是運(yùn)營美巡中國系列賽；說服數(shù)百萬中國人相信，高爾夫是一種他們應(yīng)該開始觀看、喜愛，甚至考慮玩玩的愛好，也是他的職責(zé)范疇。他看上去神態(tài)自若，擁有滿滿一衣柜的美巡賽高爾夫球衫。加入PGA之前，他曾在麥當(dāng)勞中國公司工作了近14年，還做了4年中國美國商會主席。（他自己的球技？“不是很好。大家都認(rèn)為我們經(jīng)常打高爾夫。不是這樣的?！保?/p>

2013年，葛國瑞開始運(yùn)營當(dāng)時看上去前景光明的PGA中國業(yè)務(wù)。自2000年以來，中國高爾夫球手的數(shù)量已增加了兩倍。早在1995年就舉辦了中國首屆PGA附屬賽事的觀瀾湖高爾夫球會，現(xiàn)已發(fā)展成為世界上最大的高爾夫球場，在深圳以外有12個球場。

中國此前也嘗試過一個以瑞士手表贊助商命名的小型職業(yè)聯(lián)賽：歐米茄巡回賽。這項(xiàng)賽事僅持續(xù)了4年，就于2009年壽終正寢。但PGA和中國高爾夫球協(xié)會(下文簡稱CGA，這家國營組織要求任何一家試圖進(jìn)入中國市場的海外高爾夫投資者必須與它合作)有機(jī)會從歐米茄巡回賽所犯的錯誤中汲取經(jīng)驗(yàn)教訓(xùn)。最值得指出的是，歐米茄只允許中國高爾夫球手參賽。這不僅不利于吸引觀眾，而且也對潛在的競爭者構(gòu)成傷害。中國的高爾夫球手需要參與更激烈的競爭，而在一個封閉的聯(lián)賽中，他們無法獲得進(jìn)軍國際賽事所需的世界排名積分。

隨著PGA開始與CGA展開談判，有一種越來越強(qiáng)烈的聲音認(rèn)為，一旦由外國人運(yùn)營聯(lián)賽，中國高爾夫球手將沒有容身之地。狼來了，一些中國評論家驚呼道。因此，代表CGA談判的高爾夫推廣經(jīng)理邵華回憶說，這家國營組織始終堅(jiān)持三項(xiàng)要求：充足的資金保障，世界排名積分，中國球員的占比不低于參賽選手的一半。

2013年，雙方代表在加州奧古斯塔舉行的美國名人賽期間首次會面，當(dāng)年晚些時候移師俄亥俄州進(jìn)一步磋商。CGA最終為中國斬獲一個PGA聯(lián)賽，它類似于該聯(lián)盟在拉丁美洲和加拿大運(yùn)營的其他低級別“迷你巡回賽”，是一項(xiàng)面向全球準(zhǔn)職業(yè)球手的精英公開賽。CGA并沒有贏得一個它堅(jiān)決要求的條件，即一半?yún)①愡x手必須是中國人，但事實(shí)證明，這項(xiàng)要求其實(shí)并沒有多大意義。迄今為止，中國球手在美巡中國系列賽的表現(xiàn)已經(jīng)超越了外國狼。在2015年聯(lián)賽年終獎金榜排名前10的選手中，有4位是中國人?！爱?dāng)然，對于中方來說，最好前10名都是中國人?！鄙廴A笑著說。

和許多人一樣，葛國瑞預(yù)測稱，中國將成為下一個職業(yè)高爾夫球手集中爆發(fā)的國家。他說，繼20世紀(jì)80年代后期的日本和隨后的韓國之后（目前有多達(dá)14位韓國球手參加美巡賽），中國“肯定會有兩位數(shù)的職業(yè)球手”登上這個頂級聯(lián)賽。以竇澤成為代表的新一代中國高爾夫球手有著類似的成長軌跡：他們從小就接受高爾夫球教練的指導(dǎo)，父母愿意資助他們參加各項(xiàng)賽事，老師也不介意他們翹課。竇澤成之所以能夠參加上海公開賽，與沃森和斯科特這類頂級球手同場競技，是因?yàn)橹袊殬I(yè)球手獲得了前一代人夢寐以求的機(jī)會。

★

美巡中國系列賽也受益于最近的一項(xiàng)重大規(guī)則改變。正是這項(xiàng)改變，給予了歐美青年才俊在重慶和南京等地打球的動力。2012年，美巡賽放棄資格賽事。PGA的低級別巡回賽隨即成為許多高爾夫新星的必經(jīng)之路?，F(xiàn)在參與中國系列賽的，既有使用自制球桿，較晚開始打球的中年中國人，也有揮桿動作極為標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的韓國人，還有一些剛從學(xué)院畢業(yè)，身材高大的美國人。經(jīng)常有來自五大洲的球員同場競技。

查理·薩克遜今年從俄克拉荷馬州愛德蒙趕赴中國參賽。自大學(xué)一年級以來，他已增重40磅，所以他的爆炸式開球能夠飛得更遠(yuǎn)。這位23歲的年輕人擁有像綜合格斗士那樣寬闊的背部?！盁o論好壞，你再也不能直接參加美巡賽了——對于我和其他人來說，這是個壞消息?！彼_克遜說。相反，球手們必須首先參加第二高級別的Web.com巡回賽，然后才能進(jìn)入頂級聯(lián)賽。在中巡賽這類附屬初級賽事獲得高排名的球手，將在美國Web.com巡回賽獲得一席之地，而不必參加這項(xiàng)巡回賽以嚴(yán)苛著稱的資格賽。

薩克遜目前在中巡賽獎金排行榜上高居第二，很可能將入選明年的Web.com巡回賽。不過，中巡賽也并不缺少艱難險阻。不遠(yuǎn)萬里趕赴外國參賽，自然沒有在本國打球那么舒適愜意?！皼]有人想來這里，但我們只能這么做?！眮碜杂_(dá)林頓的球手，現(xiàn)年25歲的卡勒姆·塔倫說。他的中巡賽排名還不夠高，這意味著他明年很可能還得參與另一項(xiàng)初級賽事，或許是在歐洲。身材高大的澳洲球手，26歲的林肯·泰伊說，往返于中國各大城市，令他身心疲憊，尤其不能忍受的是各類油膩的食物?！拔抑幌胍獋€雞胸。”他說。

★

就高爾夫市場的潛力而言，PGA進(jìn)軍中國的時機(jī)不可能更好；但就中國的政治形勢而言，這個時機(jī)不可能更糟。

在2013年成為中國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人不久后，習(xí)近平就發(fā)起了一場規(guī)?？涨暗姆锤\(yùn)動。高爾夫球場儼然已成為滋生腐敗的溫床。除僻靜和排他之外，許多鄉(xiāng)村俱樂部并不要求會員或客人使用其真實(shí)姓名，所以官員們可以神不知鬼不覺地接受他人饋贈的會員資格。

2014年，即美巡中國系列賽的第一年，一批紀(jì)檢官員涌入各大高爾夫俱樂部，核查營業(yè)執(zhí)照和會員記錄。另一個不利因素是，2004年建造的許多高爾夫球場在技術(shù)上是非法的，因?yàn)檎摹敖睢被旧显獾綗o視。多達(dá)100家球場最終被政府關(guān)閉。2015年，中國系列賽不得不取消兩站賽事——作為其中一站賽事的主辦方，港中旅聚豪(深圳)高爾夫球會的會員失去了最初繳納的13萬美元會員費(fèi)。中國系列賽的組織者頓時不知所措，他們不知道政府是否會從賽事日程表上抹去更多的球場。PGA的賽事日程“面臨巨大的不確定性，他們不知道哪個開發(fā)商手續(xù)齊全。”新加坡IMG高爾夫管理公司賽事主管格蘭特·斯萊克說?！?015年的情勢真的很糟糕，今年春天也是如此?！必?fù)責(zé)賽事物流事務(wù)的中國系列賽執(zhí)行總監(jiān)顧凱森說。

今年，持續(xù)的不確定性迫使美巡中國系列賽在開賽前幾周才公布賽程。起初僅安排了12站賽事；賽季中期又增添了一站?！昂茈y找到愿意跟我們合作的球場?！敝袊郀柗蜻\(yùn)動推廣人邵華感慨萬千。在郁郁蔥蔥的云南省，一家球場的負(fù)責(zé)人表示，他的俱樂部現(xiàn)在以全民健身運(yùn)動的名義營銷高爾夫球?！斑^去一兩年的艱難促使每個人都開始反思?！彼f。由于擔(dān)心地方政府的反應(yīng)，他不愿意公開身份。

潛在的贊助商也同樣謹(jǐn)慎。在美國，諸如寶馬、旅行者和約翰·迪爾這類全球品牌與個別賽事建立了長期的“冠名贊助商”關(guān)系。（比如，PGA別克公開賽持續(xù)了長達(dá)51年之久，直至通用汽車公司宣布破產(chǎn)。）但中國的反腐運(yùn)動冷卻了這種機(jī)會；現(xiàn)如今，中國賽事的冠名贊助商通常都是高爾夫球場及其房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商。

PGA大中華區(qū)董事總經(jīng)理葛國瑞認(rèn)為，這些挑戰(zhàn)將隨著時間的推移而消失。關(guān)于不利的政治因素：“我碰到的很多官員都表示，重返球場完全沒問題?！标P(guān)于缺少高爾夫球場：“垃圾填埋場！”中國有很多廢棄的垃圾填埋場，這些填埋場下面的甲烷氣體意味著，你不能在上面建造房屋，而高爾夫球場將讓這些土地變廢為寶。關(guān)于吸引更多的中國人嘗試打高爾夫：“中國人正在等待他們的老虎伍茲。我們無法預(yù)言這一幕何時降臨，但中國遲早會涌現(xiàn)一位超級巨星?！?/p>

新崛起的中國高爾夫新星，不僅僅是竇澤成一人。21歲的李昊桐贏得今年的歐巡賽-沃爾沃中國公開賽，并全程參加歐洲巡回賽。27歲的馮珊珊全程參與美國女子職業(yè)高爾夫球協(xié)會(LPGA)巡回賽，并在今年的里約奧運(yùn)會上摘得女子高爾夫銅牌。（約三分之一的中國高爾夫球手是女性，自2008年以來，LPGA一直在運(yùn)營中國系列賽。）高爾夫設(shè)備制造商幻想著，其中一人或多人終將突破重圍，并在中國引發(fā)一股高爾夫熱潮。大約10%的美國成年人打高爾夫；如果中國接近這個水平，那將是極其壯觀的增長。2011年和2012年，Callaway、Titleist和其他外國品牌在華銷售額年均增速高達(dá)30%。盡管這種增速近來有所放緩，但正如匯豐控股曾經(jīng)宣稱的那樣，高爾夫運(yùn)動正在移師東方。

Luckily for him, he didn’t have to leave China for a shot at golf’s biggest stage. Since 2014, the PGA, the world’s most prominent golf association, has run PGA Tour China Series, a professional league that gives promising young players a shot at graduating to higher competition in the U.S. It’s analogous to Double A minor league baseball in America: Players can put in a couple of years in China and—if they perform well enough—earn an automatic berth into another league that’s one rung below the PGA Tour. The China Tour, in turn, offers golf something it desperately needs: better access to the enormous and growing middle class that makes the country a huge growth opportunity for the sport.

Hard-swinging Marty has already won four of the nine tournaments played this season. He’s guaranteed of moving to the next level in the U.S. next year, where he will get his shot to become the first golfer from the People’s Republic of China to play full-time on the PGA Tour. Whether golf can rise as quickly in China as Marty has is a question with multibillion-dollar stakes.

★

In a country of 1.4 billion, the potential for the sport is certainly as vast as anyone’s imagination. Estimates of the number of Chinese golfers fall around 1 million, a small fraction of the 24 million who play in the U.S. If just 2% of China’s population played, up from less than 0.1% today, China could become a $2-billion-a-year market for golf products. That would be a godsend for an industry whose growth has sputtered in the U.S. and Europe, where manufacturers like Nike NKE -1.43% and Adidas ADDYY -5.94% are getting out of the golf-equipment business, and courses are closing.

China offers what no other place in the world can: a population that’s growing rapidly more affluent and thinking about golf for the first time. Already, golf teachers have flocked here from Europe and the U.S., charging $600 a lesson, and driving ranges are crowded with first-time players.

But the political, economic, and cultural constraints holding golf back in China run deep. President Xi Jinping’s antigraft campaign has targeted the sport for the past three years, in part because golf courses became a favorite rendezvous for corrupt officials. The heightened scrutiny led to dozens of courses being shut, a phenomenon that threatened to suffocate PGA Tour China in its infancy.

Even before the political winds shifted, golf had disadvantages in China. Land is scarce, and despite a building spree since 2000, the country has only about 600 courses (the U.S. has 15,000). Virtually none are the type of cheap, municipal links that cater to beginners. Almost every course is a private club located far outside the city center, behind closed gates manned by security guards. A round during the weekend pushes $200 or more, four or five times the norm in the U.S.—in a country where the typical urbanite has only about $5,000 a year in disposable income.

The result is that China’s beginners are the richest 1% of society, not exactly the ideal base from which to expand a sport’s popularity. Then again, you could have said the same about the sport’s clientele in America during the gilded 1920s, just before the pastime caught fire. To Greg Gilligan, head of the China Tour, the PGA has to start somewhere. “The Chinese consumer is aspirational,” he tells Fortune during an interview in the tour’s small, new Beijing office, where today it’s just the receptionist and him. “Think of someone moving up in disposable income. I think about the woman walking down the street, with the Prada purse, the Gucci shirt, the Starbucks in one hand and iPhone in the other. What’s next?”

Gilligan hopes what’s next is a shiny new driver. His responsibility extends beyond running the league: It’s his job to convince millions of Chinese that golf is a hobby they should start watching, loving, and maybe even playing. He wears a calm demeanor and a closet’s worth of rotating PGA Tour golf shirts. He spent almost 14 years in China for McDonald’s MCD -0.41% and four years chairing the American Chamber of Commerce in China before joining the PGA. (His own game? “Not great. Everyone thinks we get on the course a lot. Not the case.”)

When Gilligan started running the PGA’s China business in 2013, the outlook was bright. The number of Chinese golfers had tripled since 2000. Missions Hills, which hosted the first PGA-affiliated tournament in China in 1995, had expanded into the world’s largest golf complex, with 12 courses outside Shenzhen.

China had even experimented with a small professional league, called the Omega Tour, named for the Swiss watch brand that sponsored it. That tour had a short run, lasting four years before folding in 2009. But the PGA—and the state-run China Golf Association (CGA), which requires any foreign golf investor to join it as a partner—had a chance to learn from that tour’s mistakes. Most notably, the Omega had allowed only Chinese golfers to compete. That hurt it with audiences, but also with would-be competitors. China’s golfers needed better competition, and in a closed league, they couldn’t earn the world ranking points they needed to enter international tournaments.

As the PGA began negotiations with the CGA, there was a growing sense in China that a foreign-run league would crowd out Chinese golfers. The wolves are coming, Chinese critics said. So the state-run group insisted on three requirements, recalls Shao Hua, a golf promotion manager who helped negotiate on behalf of the CGA: a financial guarantee, world ranking points, and no less than half the tour players to be Chinese nationals.

The two sides met at the 2013 Masters in Augusta, Ga., and later that year in Ohio. The CGA ultimately got a PGA league in China that’s the same as the league’s other junior “mini-tours” in Latin America and Canada—an open meritocracy for the world’s wannabe pros. The CGA didn’t win on its insistence that half the players be Chinese, but it turned out it didn’t need to. In competition so far, the Chinese have outrun the foreign wolves. In 2015, four of the top 10 players in the league’s year-end money rankings were Chinese. “For the Chinese side,” Shao says with a grin, “of course, 10 out of 10 would be good.”

Gilligan, like many, predicts that China will be golf’s next breakout country for pro golfers. Following the lead of Japan in the late 1980s and later Korea, which now has 14 players on the PGA Tour, China “will definitely have double digits” competing at the top level, he says. Marty Dou is part of the new generation of Chinese golfers who grew up with swing coaches, parents who bankrolled their tournaments, and teachers who didn’t mind them skipping school. He was able to join the Shanghai tournament and compete with the likes of Watson and Scott because Chinese professionals got slots that an earlier generation could only wish for.

★

PGA Tour China is also benefiting from a key recent rule change that gave young U.S. and European talent an incentive to play in places like Chongqing and Nanjing. In 2012 the PGA Tour dropped its Qualifying School tournament; after that, the PGA’s lower-level tours became a necessary stop for many up-and-comers. Today the Chinese tour has middle-age Chinese with homemade swings who started playing golf late in life, Koreans with picture-perfect swings, and big Americans fresh from college. Often there are players from five continents in the field.

Charlie Saxon traveled from Edmond, Okla., to China this year. Having put on 40 pounds since his freshman year in college so he could bomb his drives farther, the 23-year-old’s back is as wide as a mixed martial arts fighter’s. “For better or for worse—and for worse for me and other guys—you can’t qualify directly for the PGA Tour anymore,” says Saxon. Instead, players must first play on the second-highest level, the Web.com Tour, before they can reach the top level. Playing on affiliated junior tours like China’s allows high finishers to earn spots on the Web.com Tour in the U.S. without undergoing all of that tour’s rigorous qualifying tournaments.

Saxon, who ranks second on the China Tour’s money rankings, is likely to qualify for the Web.com circuit next year. In the meantime, the China Tour isn’t without hardship. Some struggle in a foreign land where the comforts of home are far. “No one wants to be here, but we got to be,” says Callum Tarren, 25, from Darlington, England. His not-quite-high-enough ranking in China means that he will likely play in another junior tour next year, maybe in Europe. Lincoln Tighe, 26, a towering Australian, says he has grown exhausted from hopping from Chinese city to Chinese city, as the oily and fried feasts served at each tournament wore him down. “I just want a chicken breast,” he says.

★

In terms of golf’s potential, the PGA’s timing in China couldn’t have been better; in terms of the country’s politics, it couldn’t have been worse.

Not long after he became China’s leader in 2013, Xi Jinping launched an anticorruption drive. Golf had become a locus of graft: In addition to being secluded and exclusive, many of China’s country clubs didn’t require members or guests to use their real names, so officials could accept the gift of a club membership without public notice.

In 2014, PGA Tour China’s first year, local regulators stormed into clubs to check business licenses and membership logs. It didn’t help that courses built since 2004 were technically illegal because of a construction moratorium that was mostly ignored. One hundred courses were eventually closed by the government, and in 2015 the China Tour had to cancel two of its tournaments. (Members at one course that had been slated to host an event, CTS Tycoon in Shenzhen, lost their initial $130,000 membership fee.) China Tour organizers were left scrambling, not knowing whether the government would wipe more courses off the tournament calendar. The PGA’s schedule “coincided with uncertainty about which developers had the right paperwork in place,” says Grant Slack, head of golf events for IMG Golf in Singapore. “It was really bad in 2015, bad this spring,” says Greg Carlson, the China Tour’s executive director, who handles tournament logistics.

This year, continuing uncertainty forced PGA Tour China to announce its schedule just a couple of weeks in advance. Only 12 tournaments were scheduled; a 13th was added midseason. “It’s tough to find courses to work with us,” says Shao, the Chinese golf promoter. The head of a course in the lush southern province of Yunnan, who asked not to be named because he was nervous about local authorities’ reactions, said his club was now marketing golf as a fitness movement, to keep the government at bay. “The tough time in the past one or two years has prompted everyone to reflect,” he says.

Potential corporate backers are just as wary. In the U.S., global brands like BMW, Travelers, and John Deere build long-lasting “title sponsor” relationships with individual tournaments (the PGA Tour’s Buick Open lasted 51 years before General Motors went bankrupt). But China’s anticorruption campaign chilled such opportunities; for now, Chinese tournament title sponsors are usually the golf course and its real estate developer.

The PGA’s Gilligan thinks the challenges will melt away with time. On the bad politics: “I’ve bumped into a lot of officials who say it’s okay to be back on the course.” On the lack of courses: “Landfills!” China has lots of old ones, and the methane gas underneath means you can’t put buildings on them; golf courses would make the land useful. On wooing more Chinese to try golf: “They’re waiting for their Tiger Woods. We can’t set our clock to stardom, but it’s going to happen.”

China does have budding stars beyond Marty Dou. Li Haotong, who’s 21, won the European Tour’s Volvo China Open this year and plays full-time on the European tour. Shanshan Feng, 27, plays on the LPGA Tour in the U.S. and won the women’s bronze medal in Rio. (About a third of Chinese golfers are women, and the China LPGA tour has run a league there since 2008.) And golf equipment makers fantasize that one or more of them could break out and trigger a boom. About 10% of the adult U.S. population golfs; if China gets anywhere near that level, it would represent spectacular growth. As recently as 2011 and 2012, Callaway, Titleist, and other foreign brands were growing sales in China by 30% a year. Those gains have slowed, but as HSBC HSBC 1.14% once declared, golf is moving east.

PGA的顧凱森表示，一項(xiàng)關(guān)于高爾夫球場建設(shè)合法化的新議案即將被中央政府批準(zhǔn)。盡管如此，這些規(guī)則目前僅征求了負(fù)責(zé)執(zhí)行的地方政府的意見——對于已成驚弓之鳥的開發(fā)商來說，這并不是最有吸引力的前景。盡管政府將高爾夫列為面向中產(chǎn)階級的娛樂性運(yùn)動，以期推動經(jīng)濟(jì)增長，但這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動在其優(yōu)先事項(xiàng)中排名不高：在五年發(fā)展規(guī)劃中，它的排名位于乒乓球和臺球之間。

★

如今，高爾夫球在中國現(xiàn)在仍然是一項(xiàng)精英和專業(yè)人士的運(yùn)動。不過，職業(yè)球手經(jīng)常受到非精英的待遇。9月份的一天，在平安銀行北京公開賽第二輪結(jié)束后，8位球手盯著各自的自助午餐發(fā)呆。俄克拉荷馬人薩克遜當(dāng)時領(lǐng)先一桿，但他腦子里想的，卻是其他的事情?！敖裉斓氖澄飵缀鯖]得選。”他注視著油膩的面條和浸泡在醬油中的蔬菜。酒店餐廳經(jīng)理已經(jīng)主動為每一位希望品嘗家鄉(xiāng)菜肴的球手訂購了巨無霸漢堡。一位澳大利亞球手抓起一個，大口猛啃。

平安銀行公開賽的舉辦地，坐落于距離北京1小時車程的山區(qū)之中。這是一座典型的中國系列賽球場——緊密的球道，波動的草坪，也帶來了常見的沮喪。吃午飯的時候，即將當(dāng)爸爸的澳大利亞人克里斯·布朗向記者敘述這個倒霉的日子。他在11洞時丟了一個球?！拔易チ酥恍▲B，吞下三個柏忌，兩個柏忌，打了個標(biāo)準(zhǔn)桿，然后又是三個柏忌！”

但是，作為中國系列賽最好的球手，竇澤成再次接近榜首位置。在今天的第一個洞，他的近距離切球穿越果嶺邊緣，直接入洞，打了一記漂亮的老鷹?！斑@個洞對他來說就像真空一樣?！泵绹蚴直尽だ锥髡f。。

有人問，竇澤成在下一個級別的賽場上有多大的獲勝幾率。他能否在美巡賽獲得成功？“他的表現(xiàn)不會差的?！彼_克森說。每個人都點(diǎn)頭認(rèn)同。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Kevin

The PGA’s Carlson says a new legalization process for golf-course construction is close to being approved by the central government. Still, those rules are being shared only with local governments responsible for enforcing them—not the most enticing prospect for skittish developers. And while the government included golf among the recreational sports for the middle class that it’s promoting as an economic engine, the sport doesn’t rank very high among its priorities: In the five-year plan, it was listed between table tennis and billiards.

★

For now, golf in China remains a sport of elites and professionals. And the pros often face reminders that they aren’t yet elite. On a September day after the second round of the Ping An Bank Beijing Open, eight players stare at their Chinese buffet lunches. Saxon, the Oklahoman, has a one-shot lead, but his head is elsewhere. “Today the food options are slim,” he says, eyeing greasy noodles and vegetables soaked in soy sauce. The hotel restaurant’s manager has taken the initiative of ordering Big Macs for anyone wanting a taste of home. An Australian grabs one.

Located amid mountains an hour outside Beijing, the Ping An Open course is typical of the China Tour—tight fairways, undulating greens—and produces typical frustrations. At lunch, Chris Brown, an Australian with a baby on the way, is recounting his bad day. He lost a ball on the 11th. “I went birdie, triple [bogey], double, par, triple!”

But the best player in the league, Marty Dou, is again near the top of the leaderboard. On the first hole today, Marty’s approach shot rolled through the fringe and into the hole for eagle. “Man, the hole is like a vacuum for him. Swooomp,” says Ben Lein, an American who started his previous round hungover, played some of his best golf, and is thinking he should do it more often.

Someone asks what Marty’s chances are at the next level. Does he drive it long enough to make it in the U.S.? “He’ll be good,” says Saxon. Everyone nods. “Swooomp.”