中国高尔夫球运动实现两项历史性突破

China, a country once renowned for its proletarian pride, is experiencing a surge in that most patrician of sports: golf.

Associated Press14岁的中国高尔夫球手张华创成为历史上入围美国高尔夫公开赛的最年轻选手。中国一度以其无产阶级自豪感而闻名，而现在一项非常贵族化的运动却在这个国度异军突起，这就是高尔夫。

Over the weekend, 22-year-old Chinese golfer Feng Shanshan claimed women's golf's LPGA Championship title by shooting 6-under-par for the week, becoming the first Chinese player to win a major tour event and title.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images22岁的中国高尔夫球手冯珊珊成为中国第一位赢得重要巡回赛事和锦标赛冠军的球手。上周末，22岁的中国高尔夫球手冯珊珊以低于标准杆六杆的总成绩夺得女子高尔夫LPGA锦标赛冠军，成为中国第一位赢得重要巡回赛事和锦标赛冠军的球手。

As if that weren't enough, 14-year-old Chinese golfer Andy Zhang made history of his own on Monday by becoming the youngest player ever to qualify for this week's U.S. Open after Briton Paul Casey withdrew because of a shoulder injury.

好像这还不够似的。本周一，由于英国人卡西(Paul Casey)因肩伤退出比赛，14岁的中国高尔夫球手张华创成为历史上入围美国高尔夫公开赛(U.S. Open)的最年轻选手，从而创造了他个人的历史。

"It's going to be a great experience, hitting balls next to Tiger Woods," Zhang, who also played a practice round with this year's Masters winner Bubba Watson, told ESPN, noting his surprise that the older pros had been "very nice" to him and were giving him good tips."I need to make sure I'm not in a dream right now."

张华创接受ESPN采访时说，能跟老虎（伍兹）一起打球，这将是一次很棒的经历。他说他惊奇地发现年长职业球手对他非常和蔼，还给了他很多指点。他说，我得确定现在不是在做梦。张华创还曾跟今年大师赛冠军沃森(Bubba Watson)一起打过一场练习赛。

The triumphs of Feng and Zhang are a boon to China's global sporting ambitions, though they're the sort of development that probably sets Mao Zedong's waxen body to spinning it its glass case on Tiananmen Square. Despite some claims that the sport was invented in China, golf was banned under Mao as a bourgeois indulgence. Even now, with the Communist Party having embraced entrepreneurs and luxury brands rushing to cater to the country's nouveau riche, the sport remains a somewhat controversial hobby due to concerns over the growing tracts of precious arable land being appropriated to build courses.

冯珊珊和张华创的胜利对于中国的国际体育抱负来说是一场及时雨。尽管有人声称高尔夫运动是中国发明的，但这项运动在毛泽东年代却被视为资产阶级腐朽生活方式而遭禁止。即便是现在，在企业家以及各奢侈品牌争先恐后服务中国新富阶层的情况下，出于对越来越多的宝贵耕地被征用修建高尔夫球场的关切。

That history is likely one reason that China - which reportedly only opened its first golf course in 1984 - hasn't experienced the same success in the sport as some of its neighbors.

这段历史可能是中国在高尔夫运动中尚未取得一些邻国那样成功的原因之一。据报道，中国在1984年才开了第一个高尔夫球场。

While Asian peers like South Korea dominate the golf circuit - the country has 24 golfers in the LPGA's top 100 - Ms. Feng is the only mainland Chinese golfer to appear on either the men's or women's top 100 rankings (though Taiwanese golfer Yani Tseng is the women's No. 1).

虽然高尔夫运动被韩国等其他亚洲国家主导（韩国球手在LPGA前100名中占了24名），但冯珊珊是男子及女子100强当中唯一一位来自中国大陆的高尔夫球手。台湾球手曾雅妮在女子100强中排名第一。

Estimates show the number of golfers in China ranges from 300,000 players to 3 million - still just a drop in the bucket in a country of 1.3 billion. But with golf set to reappear in the Olympics in 2016, the country known for coveting gold medals is placing a new emphasis on the sport.

对于中国高尔夫球手的数量存在各种各样的估计，数字从30万到300万不等，在中国13亿人口中，这仍然只是很小的一部分。但由于高尔夫在2016年将重新成为奥运会比赛项目，中国这个以热衷于赢得金牌著称的国家正在对这项运动给予新的重视。

One example of that effort, highlighted in a report by the state-run Xinhua news agency earlier this month, is a school in southern China's Zhuahi city in Guangdong province that offers free golf training to kindergartners. Letting "children get in touch with golf is a good trial," Liu Tie, head of the Industry Planning and Development Department of the Zhuhai Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, told Xinhua.

国有媒体新华社(Xinhua News Agency)本月早些时候的一篇报道为这一动向提供了佐证。报道说，中国广东省珠海市的一家幼儿园为学龄前儿童提供免费的高尔夫球培训。珠海市文体旅游局文化产业规划与发展科科长刘铁对新华社说，让儿童接触高尔夫球是个很好的尝试。

Helping to fuel the interest is the growing number--and increasing outlandishness - of golf courses in the country like the world's largest Mission Hills golf club on southern Hainan Island, which continue to be built despite a nationwide moratorium on new courses.

助长人们对高尔夫球兴趣的还有中国数量越来越多、同时越来越具洋气的高尔夫球场，比如位于中国海南省的世界最大高尔夫球场──观澜湖高尔夫球会(Mission Hills Golf Club)球场，尽管中国已在全国范围内暂停建造新的高尔夫球场，仍然有不少高尔夫球场正在兴建当中。

Most recent available statistics suggest China has around 500 18-hole courses, compared with more than 15,000 in theU.S.

可以得到的最新统计数据显示，中国拥有大约500座18洞高尔夫球场。相比之下，美国有超过15,000座18洞高尔夫球场。

For her part, Feng told the LPGA she hopes that her success can help to inspire young golfers in Chinathe way tennis champion Li Na has.

冯珊珊对女子职业高尔夫球协会(LPGA)说，就她自己而言，她希望能像网球冠军李娜那样，以自己的成功鼓舞中国年轻的高尔夫运动员。

"Hopefully [my win is] going to help golf in Chinabecause I want to be [tennis star] Li Na for golf in China. I want to be like a model that the other juniors can follow my steps and get on the LPGA,"she said. "There are good players fromChina, young players, right now. I became the first one, but I'm sure there will be a second, third, more people winning in the States and winning majors. "

她说，希望我获奖能有助于中国高尔夫球运动的发展，因为我想成为中国高尔夫球领域的李娜。我想成为年轻人的榜样，让他们踩着我的脚步打进LPGA锦标赛。她说，中国现在就有优秀的运动员，年轻的运动员。我成为了第一个，但是我敢肯定，还会有第二个，第三个，甚至更多人在美国获胜，赢得大奖。

"I think, you know all of the Asians are good. That's what my parents told me. All of the Asians are good at controlling small things. I don't know if that's true or not. But I will say if Koreans can, Chinese can, and golf inChinais really growing up and getting more popular. I believe in the futureChinawill be one of the strongest countries on golf."

冯珊珊说，我认为，所有的亚洲人都很出色。我父母就是这么告诉我的。亚洲人都擅长控制小巧的东西。我不知道是不是这样。但是我想说，如果韩国人可以，中国人就可以。高尔夫球运动在中国的确正在发展，也变得越来越流行。我相信未来中国会成为高尔夫运动最强的国家之一。