Bell Seeks a Unique Double at Faldo Series Asia Grand Final in China

English Boys’ international, Jonathan Bell, will be seeking a unique double when he tees up in the 2010 Faldo Series Asia Grand Final, to be played over 54-holes on the Faldo Course at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China, on March 10 -12.

Bell, 18, from the Royal Blackheath Golf Club in Kent, won the Faldo Series European Grand Final in 2009, staged in the Olympic city of Rio de Janeiro back in October, and now hopes to go one better by becoming the first player to win the European and Asian Grand Finals back-to-back.

Bell will be joined by compatriot, Holly Clyburn,19, the English and French Under-18 champion and a member of the 2010 GB & I Curtis Cup squad, who won the main Girls’ title at the Grand Final in Brazil and so will be seeking her own double in China.

Both Bell and Clyburn will also be bidding to emulate European Tour stars, Nick Dougherty and Oliver Fisher, by becoming double Faldo Series Grand Final winners. Other former Faldo Series graduates include World No. 9 Rory McIlroy, who won the Under-15 and Under-17 titles in 2004 and the Under-16 title in 2006, Scottish World Cup winner Marc Warren, LPGA Tour winner Yani Tseng and Ladies’ European Tour star Melissa Reid.

The Asian Grand Final, which is an R & A World Amateur Ranking event, is sanctioned by the Asian Tour, the Asia Pacific Golf Federation and the Guangdong Golf Association and is the climax of a season that has featured 14 tournaments in 12 different countries. It is supported by major partners Mission Hills, the R & A and UBS and is to be hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, the six-time Major champion who created the Faldo Series back in 1996 to help and nurture future generations of young golfers. Off the course, competitors will spend time with Faldo and will have the opportunity to learn from a number of other guest speakers. There will also be a number of other grass-roots activities on offer to local children, an initiative that is part of Faldo’s bid to use the Series to give local youngsters access to the game.

 Bell first sprung to prominence back in 2004 when he won the English Boys’ Under-14 Championship at the age of 12 and he has seldom looked back since. He enjoyed a highly successful 2008 season, winning the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters and the South East Junior Championship and then finished runner-up in the 2009 Lee Westwood Trophy before claiming the Faldo Series European title at the end of last year.

The Kent-based teenager is looking forward to his trip to China but is under no illusions about how difficult it will be to emerge victorious against a 78-strong field from 18 separate nations that also includes fellow-Englishmen, Daniel Owen, 20, and Oliver Carr, 17. Brogan Townend, 15, from Blackburn is also competing in the Girls’ Under-16 event having won the same age group title in Rio.

“It’s a great thrill to be heading to China to compete in the Asian Grand Final where I’d like nothing better than to win the title to add to the one I won in Rio,” he said. “That’s the plan but it certainly won’t be easy against a field that includes so many of the best young players from Asia.”

Bell’s main challenger might well be 19 year-old Indian, Rashid Khan, who is bidding for a unique treble having won the Faldo Series Asia Grand Final for the last two years in-a-row.

Khan’s 2009 victory at Mission Hills sparked a winning run that included the Singapore Open Amateur Championship and six successive tournaments on the Indian amateur circuit. He credits this success, not just to the confidence he gained from his Faldo Series win, but also to the advice given to him by former Open and Masters champion, Faldo: “Sir Nick told me to stay focussed, enjoy the game while on the course, not to put myself under pressure and avoid getting angry. I have followed that advice ever since and the results are there to see.”

Other leading competitors in the Boys’ field, which is separated into three age categories, Under-16, Under-18 and Under-21, will include Gavin Green, the 2009 Malaysian Closed Amateur champion, Khan’s compatriot S. Chikkarangappa who recently became the youngest-ever winner of the All India Amateur Championship, the in-form 16 year-old from Hong Kong, Liu Lok-tin, winner of  the 2010 China Junior Open and Hong Kong Closed Amateur and 14 year-old Japanese golfer, Masamichi Ito, who last year became the youngest player to make the cut on the Japan Golf Tour.

Faldo himself believes the 2010 Asian Grand Final will be the most competitive yet.

“I’m really looking forward to it, not just to the golf but also to spending time with the competitors and passing on as much advice and experience as possible.”

“Following another season of growth and success for the Faldo Series Asia, our fourth Grand final at Mission Hills promises to be our biggest and best yet. After a year when YE Yang became the first Asian to win a Major, golf was voted into the 2016 Olympics and the region hosted its first WGC event and Asian Amateur Championship, it is more important than ever to be giving opportunities to young golfers in Asia and helping to develop tomorrow’s champions.”

For more information about the Faldo Series Asia Grand Final contact Tom Phillips of the Faldo Series Asia on +852 2819 3364 (email tphillips@nickfaldo.com) or visit www.nickfaldo.com.

 Media enquiries should be directed to James Lovett at Golf Marketing Services on +44 (0)1438 718399 (email james@gmsgolf.co.uk)