HOYLAKE, England -- There was a glimpse of what is to come with the performance of 16-year-old Jing Yan, the youngest Chinese player -- man or woman -- to have qualified for a major.
Though she was not making quite the same impact as 15-year-old Lydia Ko, who won the amateur medal, Yan survived prequalifying and final qualifying before making the halfway cut with scores of 80 and 69. She then had a third-round 77 before starting her fourth with six straight pars through the worsening conditions. She finished with a 78 and overall score of 16 over.
A member of the Chinese amateur team since age 12, Yan won a silver medal at the Asian Games in China two years ago. Even now, she has her heart set on helping her country win gold when golf slips into the Olympics in 2016.
For almost all the Asian players, an Olympic gold would be right up there with winning a major.