SPORTING DOORS STARTING TO OPEN AGAIN – AT LEAST IN CHINA
Kelly hopes to be in pro shop by mid-April
“McIlroy is a massive crowdpuller in China”
IT’LL take more than one day for Karl Kelly to complete the journey from Dublin to Shanghai.
But the 27-hour trek starting tomorrow via Paris, Rome and Tokyo to China will be worth it for Kelly, as will the toleration of a 14-day hotel quarantine to come on touchdown in China.
Kelly, 48, has finally got the all-clear to return to his day job as director of golf and head professional at Zhongshan International golf club in Nanjing.
He’s been away since January 23, the day before golf was shut down – Ireland followed suit this week – and while he enjoyed being back at home in Portmarnock, he is eager now to get back to Zhongshan and spread the golf gospel to an eager flock.
A keen Irish football fan, who attended the Euro finals of 2012 and 2016, Kelly had hoped to be in Bratislava on Thursday night for the Euro 2020 play-off but it was postponed.
So, too, was the Golf Club Managers’ Association of Europe gathering at Portmarnock Links.
As doors shut at home, others are coming ajar in China as Zhongshan is due to re-open on April 1 and Kelly hopes to be back in the pro shop before ‘mid-April.’
That will be almost three months since he left for Vietnam and Malaysia for the Chinese New Year. ‘That break coincided with the outbreak of the virus and I was advised to stay away,’ he said.
Just as a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so the return of Kelly to China is a sign of progress against the pathogen. ‘It seems to be opening up again,’ is his upbeat observation.
‘When the lockdown was enforced, the Chinese obeyed it without question. They are like that.’
On a map the distance from Wuhan to Nanjing looks tiny but China is a vast place and almost 550 kilometres separate the outbreak of the pandemic to where Kelly lives and works.
‘The sheer vastness of China is what struck me when I went there first. It goes on forever,’ said Kelly.
So why China? To that, Kelly could suggest, why not? It’s an expanding golf market, a different lifestyle, a fresh challenge.
After learning his trade with the late Hugh Jackson at Donabate, Kelly spent three years at the Krefelder Golf Club, near Dusseldorf.
A spell at Shannon with Artie Pyke followed before he clocked up 14 years at the Elm Green facility, near Blanchardstown.
Kelly is a teaching pro, rather than a touring one, and the urge to try something different prompted him to get in touch with the PGA headquarters at The Belfry England about overseas opportunities.
The roads led to China in December 2013 where he made a few contacts and waited for something to come up. Along the way, he prepared by learning Chinese. ‘Basic stuff,’ he said, of a language which is notoriously difficult for Westerners.
It wasn’t long before Kelly got the call. His first posting was at Suzhou, then came Shanghai and, since November 2016, he has been the head pro and director of golf in Zhongshan, where he has a five-year contract.
Along the way, he has become good friends with Declan Roche, the former Shelbourne and Cork City midfielder who is a football coach in Jiaxing, three hours from Nanjing.
How does Kelly’s week pan out? ‘I usually work Wednesday to Sundays. We’ve an academy with ten coaches and we oversee a lot of junior golf. We’re also tied in with a lot of local schools.
‘Golf in China was once very exclusive but it’s growing more in the middle classes now. There is an issue with new golf courses, which is down to a government ban.
‘From a peak of 600 a few years ago, the numbers are down to around 400 now.’
It would help if the Chinese President liked his golf as much as the average US President, but Xi Jinping’s sporting preference is for football and he’s doing all in his power to bring the 2030 World Cup to China. It’s a shame as Haotong Li is flying the flag for China at an elite world level against the background of uncertainty nationally as the China PGA Tour, which offers five places into the Web.com Tour in the US, has been cancelled for 2020.
At least the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, a WGC event since 2009, is still standing on October 28-31 – for now at least.
Kelly, along with Roche, was at the exclusive Sheshan club in early November to see Rory McIlroy edge out Xander Schauffele in a play-off.
‘McIlroy is a massive crowdpuller in China,’ he said of his fellow Manchester United fan.
In his own way, Kelly is doing his bit to popularise the game too. He has travelled a long way and as he sets off tomorrow, has some way to go for the next leg of a golfing career far from ordinary.