Liang Wenchong
Liang Wenchong (simplified Chinese: 梁文冲; traditional Chinese: 梁文沖; pinyin: Liáng Wénchōng, born 2 August 1978) is a Chinese professional golfer. He was the highest ranked golfer from the People's Republic of China and the first Chinese golfer to have reached the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking. He succeeded his mentor Zhang Lianwei as the top Chinese player.
| Liang Wenchong | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born | 2 August 1978 Zhongshan, China | ||||||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||||||
| Weight | 160 lb (73 kg; 11 st) | ||||||
| Sporting nationality |  China | ||||||
| Residence | Zhongshan, China | ||||||
| Career | |||||||
| Turned professional | 1999 | ||||||
| Current tour(s) | Japan Golf Tour Asian Tour | ||||||
| Former tour(s) | European Tour OneAsia Tour | ||||||
| Professional wins | 21 | ||||||
| Highest ranking | 57 (29 August 2010)[1] | ||||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||||
| European Tour | 1 | ||||||
| Japan Golf Tour | 2 | ||||||
| Asian Tour | 3 | ||||||
| Other | 16 | ||||||
| Best results in major championships | |||||||
| Masters Tournament | CUT: 2008 | ||||||
| PGA Championship | T8: 2010 | ||||||
| U.S. Open | CUT: 2014, 2015, 2018 | ||||||
| The Open Championship | T64: 2008 | ||||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||||
| |||||||
Professional career
Liang has played on the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour and OneAsia Tour. He finished 21st on the 2006 Japan Golf Tour money list, after finishing second at the Fujisankei Classic. In 2008 he was second at the Japan PGA Championship. At the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open he finished third in 2008 and second in 2009. In 2014 he finished second at the KBC Augusta.
After more than a dozen top-10 finishes on the Asian Tour, he won the 2007 Clariden Leu Singapore Masters, which was co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour. He was the second golfer from the People's Republic of China to win on the European Tour after Zhang Lianwei. In 2007, Liang won the Order of Merit on the Asian Tour, becoming the first from mainland China to do so.
In 2009, he finished second at the Barclays Singapore Open, a European Tour event. On the 2013 European Tour, he finished third at the Lyoness Open and Avantha Masters.
In August 2007, he became the first golfer from the People's Republic of China to play in the PGA Championship.[2] He ended up missing the cut. He also received a special invitation to play in the 2008 Masters Tournament.[3] In July 2008, Liang became the first Chinese golfer to make the cut at a major, The Open Championship at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club. In August 2010, Liang set a new course record at Whistling Straits with his 8-under 64 in the third round of the 2010 PGA Championship, where he finished eighth.
In 2013, Liang won the Resorts World Manila Masters in the Philippines then donated half of his winner's purse of US$135,000 to victims of Typhoon Haiyan (also known as Typhoon Yolanda) that had recently ravaged the country.[4]
Amateur wins (3)
- 1996 China Amateur Open Championship
- 1997 China Amateur Open Championship
- 1998 China Amateur Open Championship
Professional wins (21)
European Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 Mar 2007 | Clariden Leu Singapore Masters1 | −11 (64-72-68-73=277) | Playoff |  Iain Steel |
1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour
European Tour playoff record (1–0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2007 | Clariden Leu Singapore Masters | Iain Steel |
Won with par on first extra hole |
Japan Golf Tour wins (2)
| Legend |
| Japan majors (1) |
| Other Japan Golf Tour (1) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 Jun 2015 | Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills |
−14 (67-68-65-70=270) | 5 strokes | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Brad Kennedy,  Ryutaro Nagano, Song Young-han |
| 2 | 16 Apr 2017 | Token Homemate Cup | −16 (69-65-66-68=268) | 2 strokes | Yoshinori Fujimoto |
Japan Golf Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2014 | RZ Everlasting KBC Augusta | Hiroyuki Fujita |
Lost to par on fifth extra hole |
Asian Tour wins (3)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 Mar 2007 | Clariden Leu Singapore Masters1 | −11 (64-72-68-73=277) | Playoff | Iain Steel |
| 2 | 12 Oct 2008 | Hero Honda Indian Open | −16 (60-71-71-70=272) | 1 stroke | Darren Beck |
| 3 | 17 Nov 2013 | Resorts World Manila Masters | −16 (67-69-67-69=272) | Playoff |  Prom Meesawat |
1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
Asian Tour playoff record (2–0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2007 | Clariden Leu Singapore Masters | Iain Steel |
Won with par on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2013 | Resorts World Manila Masters | Prom Meesawat |
Won with birdie on first extra hole |
OneAsia Tour wins (4)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 Oct 2009 | Midea China Classic | −14 (69-65-68-68=270) | 4 strokes | Zhang Lianwei |
| 2 | 4 April 2010 | Luxehills Chengdu Open | −9 (72-66-67-74=279) | Playoff | Kim Hyung-tae |
| 3 | 29 Aug 2010 | Thailand Open | −18 (67-67-67-69=270) | 1 stroke | Namchok Tantipokhakul, Michael Wright |
| 4 | 14 Oct 2012 | Nanshan China Masters | −8 (68-67-68-73=276) | Playoff | Yang Yong-eun |
OneAsia Tour playoff record (2–0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2010 | Luxehills Chengdu Open | Kim Hyung-tae |
Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2012 | Nanshan China Masters | Yang Yong-eun |
Won with birdie on fifth extra hole |
Other wins (12)
- 1999 Kunming Classic (China), Dalian Classic (China), Beijing Classic (China), Shenzhen Classic (China)
- 2000 Shanghai Classic (China), Beijing Classic (China)
- 2001 Shanghai Classic (China), Davidoff Nations Cup (with Zhang Lianwei)
- 2002 Dalian Classic (China)
- 2005 Kunming leg (China Tour)
- 2006 Hainan leg (Omega China Tour), Omega Championship (China)
Results in major championships
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | |||||||||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | CUT | CUT | |||||||||
| The Open Championship | T64 | CUT | CUT | |||||||||
| PGA Championship | CUT | T8 | CUT |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Results in World Golf Championships
Results not in chronological order before 2015.
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | T68 | T30 | |||||||||||
| Match Play | |||||||||||||
| Invitational | T61 | T75 | |||||||||||
| Champions | T40 | T63 | T62 | T24 | T15 | T48 | T58 | T47 | T38 | T43 | T73 | ||
"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
Team appearances
- Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing China): 2000
- World Cup (representing China): 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013
- Dynasty Cup (representing Asia): 2003 (winners), 2005 (winners)
- Royal Trophy (representing Asia): 2009 (winners), 2010, 2011, 2013
References
- "Week 35 2010 Ending 29 Aug 2010" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
- "Liang Earns Major Invitation to PGA Championship". Asian Tour. 29 June 2007. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007.
- "Augusta National invites three Asian standouts to play in Masters". PGA Tour. 21 January 2008. Archived from the original on 18 March 2009.
- Guerrero, Bob (17 November 2013). "Chinese golfer wins Resorts World Manila Masters, donates PhP2.9 million to typhoon relief". Yahoo News.
External links
- Liang Wenchong at the Asian Tour official site
- Wen-Chong Liang at the Japan Golf Tour official site
- Wenchong Liang at the European Tour official site
- Liang Wenchong at the Official World Golf Ranking official site
- Profile on the Omega China Tour's official site (archived)