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 (1978-08-02) 2 August 1978
Zhongshan, China
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Sporting nationality China
ResidenceZhongshan, China
Career
Turned professional1999
Current tour(s)Japan Golf Tour
Asian Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
OneAsia Tour
Professional wins21
Highest ranking57 (29 August 2010)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour1
Japan Golf Tour2
Asian Tour3
Other16
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentCUT: 2008
PGA ChampionshipT8: 2010
U.S. OpenCUT: 2014, 2015, 2018
The Open ChampionshipT64: 2008
Achievements and awards
Asian Tour
Order of Merit winner
2007
Asian Tour
Players' Player of the Year
2007
OneAsia Tour
Order of Merit winner
2010

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 Malaysia Iain Steel

1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2007 Clariden Leu Singapore Masters Malaysia 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 Australia Brad Kennedy, Japan Ryutaro Nagano,
South Korea Song Young-han
2 16 Apr 2017 Token Homemate Cup −16 (69-65-66-68=268) 2 strokes Japan Yoshinori Fujimoto

Japan Golf Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2014 RZ Everlasting KBC Augusta Japan 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 Malaysia Iain Steel
2 12 Oct 2008 Hero Honda Indian Open −16 (60-71-71-70=272) 1 stroke Australia Darren Beck
3 17 Nov 2013 Resorts World Manila Masters −16 (67-69-67-69=272) Playoff Thailand Prom Meesawat

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Asian Tour playoff record (2–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2007 Clariden Leu Singapore Masters Malaysia Iain Steel Won with par on first extra hole
2 2013 Resorts World Manila Masters Thailand 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 China Zhang Lianwei
2 4 April 2010 Luxehills Chengdu Open −9 (72-66-67-74=279) Playoff South Korea Kim Hyung-tae
3 29 Aug 2010 Thailand Open −18 (67-67-67-69=270) 1 stroke Thailand Namchok Tantipokhakul, Australia Michael Wright
4 14 Oct 2012 Nanshan China Masters −8 (68-67-68-73=276) Playoff South Korea Yang Yong-eun

OneAsia Tour playoff record (2–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2010 Luxehills Chengdu Open South Korea Kim Hyung-tae Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2012 Nanshan China Masters South Korea 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 200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
Masters Tournament CUT
U.S. Open CUT CUT CUT
The Open Championship T64 CUT CUT
PGA Championship CUT T8 CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament2007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Championship T68 T30
Match Play
Invitational T61 T75
Champions T40 T63 T62 T24 T15 T48 T58 T47 T38 T43 T73
  Did not play

"T" = tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

References

  1. "Week 35 2010 Ending 29 Aug 2010" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  2. "Liang Earns Major Invitation to PGA Championship". Asian Tour. 29 June 2007. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007.
  3. "Augusta National invites three Asian standouts to play in Masters". PGA Tour. 21 January 2008. Archived from the original on 18 March 2009.
  4. Guerrero, Bob (17 November 2013). "Chinese golfer wins Resorts World Manila Masters, donates PhP2.9 million to typhoon relief". Yahoo News.
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