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EDITORIAL: Tseng wins
for herself and Taiwan
Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) won Taiwan’s first LPGA tournament, sharing some of the glory
of her position as the queen of golf with fellow Taiwanese. The tournament was
hosted by Hsu Tien-ya (許典雅) of the Sunrise Golf and Country Club, who invited
the world’s top 10 female golfers to participate. Reporters from more than 20
countries covered the event, which was broadcast in dozens of countries.
Her outstanding performance has created a “Yani Tseng effect.” The story of her
success, superior skills, high resistance to stress and concentration, of her
self-confidence, love for Taiwan and donations to charity, makes her a worthy
role model for young people — and no doubt, many will be tempted to try and
emulate her. However, Tseng deserves credit not just for winning the tournament,
but for bringing it here in the first place and helping widen the appeal of her
sport.
Golf used to be a sport of the upper class. This view has now changed, and it
has even entered elementary-school sports curriculums in many countries.
However, in Taiwan, the sport incurs an entertainment tax and a luxury tax as if
it needed to be as strictly supervised as the entertainment industry. The sight
of 67,000 golf fans over four days following Tseng around the course will
hopefully be enough to make the government relax golf-related regulations so
that the sport can spread and become a pastime available to anyone.
A majority of the well-known international competitions organized by Taiwan
recently have been hosted by the central or local governments, but the Sunrise
LPGA was hosted by the Sunrise Group. Everything from signing a three-year
contract and paying royalties of NT$700 million (US$23.25 million) to raising
the finances, inviting the world’s top players, upgrading the course’s
facilities and maintaining security was undertaken by the private sector. The
success of the Sunrise LPGA tournament will hopefully inspire private businesses
or organizations to take a more prominent role in international activities.
Although the government has basically been an outsider to the tournament, Vice
President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) has claimed it as part of the official celebrations
for the Republic of China’s centenary.
A few years ago, Tseng suggested to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that Taiwan
arrange an LPGA tour event to help boost Taiwan’s visibility in the
international arena. However, when Ma heard the cost would approach NT$200
million, he was taken aback and said the same amount of money would pay for
dozens of running events. With that, any discussion of the government organizing
an LPGA event came to an end. It was only due to the government’s lack of
interest that the private sector took over, which is why Siew rather than Ma
welcomed the participants at the opening banquet.
The Sports Affairs Council and Taiwan’s Olympic Committee wanted the hosts to
adopt the “Chinese Taipei” model, using the flag and anthem used by the nation
in the Olympics, but Hsu insisted that it was a Taiwanese competition organized
by the private sector and that the national flag be used. So the national flag
was displayed throughout the tournament, something else the government would not
have done.
Taiwan’s first LPGA event brought joy and pride to millions. The one downside
was that the event also highlighted government officials’ lack of international
knowledge and experience as well as their lack of boldness and decisiveness.
Taiwan has two more years of hosting an LPGA tournament ahead of it, giving the
government two years to take notes and learn from the private sector how to
become more flexible and responsive to change.
That would be a “win-win” situation, as the Ma administration and the business
world like to say.
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