The Paper's reporter Chen Jun
Wu Ashun broke the 4-year championship drought. This article picture CFP
Over the past weekend, Chinese golfer Wu Ashun reported success from as far away as Kenya, Africa. At the Kenya Open of the DP World Tour (the European Tour announced that it will be renamed the DP World Tour from 2022), he won his fourth DP World Tour title with a total score of -16 strokes, breaking the nearly 4-year championship drought, and it was also the first title won by a Chinese player after the emergence of the new crown epidemic...
Taking advantage of such an opportunity, the surging news reporter connected with Wu Ashun thousands of miles away to listen to him share his story of winning the championship.
Wu Ashun.
4 years of championship drought, his mentality is more stable
"In fact, from the first day, I was in good shape, although there were mistakes in the first two rounds, there was an OB (the ball outside the boundary will be penalized), but when the two rounds were over, my confidence was very strong, I told myself, 'If the two rounds of the final round can play -5 per round, a total of -10 results, I may be able to compete for this championship.'"
Like the wu ahshun learned by the reporter, this is a player with a steady mentality, and at the Mudiga Golf and Country Club, he staged a beautiful counterattack for everyone.
In the first round - 2, he was tied for 23rd place; in the second round - 3, he rushed to tenth place; after handing over -5 strokes as expected in the third round, he had reached the second place tie, but there was still a 4-stroke gap between the individual leader Scotsman Ferguson, and Wu Ashun played +1 on the second hole of the final round, which was somewhat unfavorable.
"I didn't expect that the ball would fly so far, and after cutting back, it didn't advance smoothly... But I was still quite confident. Wu Ashun recalled afterwards, he did not suffer any negative impact, "In fact, this course is very difficult, the wind is very strong, the fairway is relatively narrow, there are very high woods, if the position of the ball is slightly deviated, you will be blocked by the tree, there is no way to go directly to the green, in this course if the landing point is not precise enough, a round down to play a +1, +2 is too normal, I have made consecutive mistakes on the 8th hole, to not get to the position I want, to maintain patience when lagging behind, can not blindly attack, Choose a wise strategy. ”
In Wu Ashun's view, a challenging course will bring mistakes to himself, but it will also drag down the pace of the leader, and sure enough, as he gradually entered the good situation, the 9th and 10th holes have rushed to the first with a two-stroke advantage after catching birds in a row, and continue to catch birds on the 17th and 18th holes, and finally Wu Ashun shot 7 birds in a single round, winning the championship with a score of -6, and the lead reached 4.
Such a championship has reason to make Wu Ashun happy, but when communicating with the surging news reporter, he also admitted: "Happy must be very happy, but in fact, not so excited when I won the first and second European Tour victories, maybe these years are more experienced, the mentality is more stable, or it may be the reason why the game did not fight to the last one or two holes, I overtook earlier, the overall is relatively smooth." ”
It is worth mentioning that this is Wu Ashun's first championship in the past four years, and the last time he won the cup was back to the Dutch Open in September 2018, when he also won the championship with a total score of -16 and became the first player in China to win the Triple Crown on the European Tour.
For the previous championship drought, Wu Ashun also has his own explanation, "In fact, there has been a period of time to adjust the technical action, 19 years began to feel good, but soon there was an epidemic, there was no game to play for a long time, and his state and rhythm were affected." ”
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected Wu Ashun's preparations.
It is an honor to fight for the country
As Wu Ashun said, the new crown epidemic has put global sports events in a long period of suspension or postponement, and golfers who need to fly all over the world throughout the year are also deeply affected, Wu Ashun himself calculated, "Before the epidemic, I had to play almost 25 to 30 games a year, after the epidemic, there were almost half a year there were no games at all, I only had 10 games a year, and I played 12 games last year." ”
From this point of view, the current Kenya Open championship is even more precious, which is the first title won by Chinese golfers after the outbreak of the epidemic.
As one of the best golfers in China, in recent years, Wu Ashun's main energy has been focused on the European Tour, but last year in order to prepare for the Olympic Games and the National Games, he returned to China more, only 4 quarantines for 12 weeks, in this regard, Wu Ashun said that it is an honor to play for the country and for his hometown.
"The Olympic Games have a threshold, you need the world ranking to enter a certain range, you have the opportunity to play, each country only has two places, and I can represent my country to fight is a very honorable thing, the 2016 Rio Olympics is my first time to participate in the Olympic Games, at that time I was touched by that atmosphere, which is a completely different feeling from our usual professional tour, I believe that every athlete is eager to go to the country, every athlete will not miss such an opportunity."
In order to get a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics, Wu Ashun once played 9 matches in 10 weeks and was willing to "relegate" to sign up for the European Tour Second Stage Challenge, just to get enough ranking points.
In addition to the Olympic Games, Wu Ashun also represented his hometown Fujian Province last year to participate in the Shaanxi National Games, in the past countless interviews, Wu Ashun mentioned that he was a peasant child in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, golf let him go out of Zhangzhou, out of Fujian, Yangwei International Arena, Wu Ashun did not want to give back to his hometown all the time, "Now we golfers need to choose a provincial team to sign, but emotionally I have always wanted to play for my hometown, this is our obligation, but also our glory, there is no hometown training, There won't be me now. ”
Family has become another focus of Wu Ashun's life.
Family, let me be more down-to-earth
After winning the Kenya Open, Wu Ashun's world ranking has also reached 158th, and since 2016, he has returned to the position of "China's first brother", and the nearest yuan Yichun is currently ranked 290th and Li Haotong is ranked 303rd.
"Is it the first place in the country, does not mean anything, a good game, your ranking may go up, play badly will also come down, I hope to be able to do my best, and strive to get more victories." 」 Wu Ashun is a pragmatic person, he is more focused on whether he can play on the field, looking forward to the new season, he is full of confidence, "If you play well, I think I still have the opportunity to continue to win the championship, and I also hope to participate in the four major competitions." ”
When communicating with the surging news reporter, Wu Ashun has moved from Kenya to Johannesburg, South Africa, to participate in the "My Golf Life Open", which is the non-stop routine of a professional golfer, but this year, unlike in the past, he has more wives and daughters around him. Wu Ashun was married at the end of 2018, and in 2021 he was promoted to become a father, in the past, because he always competed overseas, he and his wife, especially his daughter, gathered less and more, this year Wu Ashun decided to bring his family to the competition.
"After getting married, in fact, my wife has been accompanying me to the competition, after having children, she stayed in Shanghai more, because of the epidemic, the time for the family to get together is not a lot, this year I thought, just take the whole family out together." 」 Wu Ashun admitted that he did not want to miss the child's growth period, "especially do not want to miss her growth, and have a family to accompany you, whether you are happy or unhappy, your heart will be very solid, you can focus more on the game... The family can take care of it, the children can also accompany, I think this is the best choice at the moment, although it will be a little harder, fly to different places every week, but I think the family can be together is the most important. ”
The 36-year-old Wu Ashun is still in the golden period of his career, and while being a good golfer, he is also being a good husband and father who cares for the family, I believe that with the company of his family, Wu Ashun's season will be more exciting.
Editor-in-Charge: Hu Jie