Return to Transcripts main page
LIVING GOLF
The Rise of Teenage Prodigies; Better Economy Fuels Golf Investment; Annika Sorenstam in Full Swing; Manassero's Hopes for the Future
Aired May 8, 2014 - 05:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
SHANE O'DONOGHUE, CNN HOST: (voice-over): It's the dawning of a new era. On and off the course. Welcome to the Middle East. Welcome to LIVING GOLF.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): On this month's program, just how young can they get? Boy wonder turned four-time winner Matteo Manassero reports exclusively for us on the new breed in golf.
GUY KINNINGS, GLOBAL HEAD OF GOLF, IMG: The step into the professional ranks is less daunting.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Also the Emirates are back and building for golf again. And a new series with the most successful ever player in the women's game.
Every year, the records keep falling. The youngest-ever just keep getting younger, from Matteo Manassero to Guan Tianlang and Ye Wocheng, from Lexi Thompson to Charley Hull and Lydia Ko.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Even in the past few weeks, 20-year-old Jordan Spieth almost became the youngest man ever to win the Masters. And Lexi Thompson did win her first major at the age of just 19, missing out on the record only by three months.
So what's going on? For that matter, why are we here?
Well, over there coaching is the most successful teenager in European Tour history, Matteo Manassero, now a veteran at 21.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE: Matteo.
MATTEO MANASSERO, FOUR-TIME EUROPEAN TOUR WINNER: Hi, Shane.
O'DONOGHUE: (INAUDIBLE).
Matteo, later this month at Wentworth, will be defending the fourth title of his young career.
But first, he's agreed to report for us on what lies behind the emergence of these child stars.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MANASSERO (voice-over): Take it a little more inside than usually. Nice and wide. And there's some work here with the best kids in the region. This is Emily. She's 15. That's one year older than Guan Tianlang was when he beat my record at the Masters. So let's start there, in China.
DAVID WATSON, COACH TO YE WOCHENG AND CAO SEN (voice-over): You know, I've had kids come to me around 8, 9 or 10. And then we give them a three- year program to get them to elite level.
Make sure that the club and the pathway is working in that circle.
The culture here in China and I'd probably say across Asia is a little different. It's a little more -- there's more pressure with the kids and there's a lot of kids trying for the number one spot.
You know, golf's going through that changing period now here in Asia, particularly in China because the coaches have been here for a while now. So they've had time to develop the kids.
MANASSERO (voice-over): David Watson has a list too of sending young players there.
CAO SEN, CHINA FUTURES AMATEUR CHAMPION (from captions): My name is Cao Sen. I am 16 years old. I started playing golf when I was 8; it has been more than seven years now. Guan Tianlang, for example, started at the age of 4.
WATSON (voice-over): These drivers are fantastic. He hit round 2, 82, 90. He's now at 15. So he's hitting it long and he's competing with most of the top players now in Asia.
When you look back and you think of where they are now, you know, you -- I'm quite pleased with what we've achieved with them. But there's still a long way to go if you know what I mean.
MANASSERO (voice-over): David Watson.
Well, we shouldn't think this is just happening in China. We're only in the men's game. Let's have a look at some of the records that have gone recently.
First, the two we've mentioned, there's the youngest player to make the cut at the Masters, broken two ice in past four years and the youngest player to play in a European Tour event, there is also the youngest ever to play in the U.S. Open and in the U.S. Women's Open. And then it's the youngest ever winner. The youngest winner of a women's major wasn't too long ago, either. The youngest ever winner of a European Tour event has changed hands twice in last five years, at least I see all that one. And the record for the youngest every winner on the LPGA has also been broken twice since I turned pro. And to round it off, last year we also had the youngest ever player in the Solheim Cup.
We've now come to the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, where some of the most powerful people in golf have come together to look at the future of the game. Quite a few of the record breakers have an Asian background. So let's start with someone who should know better than most.
MIKE KERR, CEO, ASIAN TOUR: Well, I think that's to do with the explosion of the interests of golf in the Asian region. And again, the explosion really of the middle class in Asia. And so it's - you know, it's -- in some ways, it's a numbers game in that there are more people getting introduced to the game; there's much better technology, much better coaching, much better information and professionalism around the game.
And so you're now seeing this natural talent being able to be nurtured to the extent that they are now coming and breaking through into the world stage.
MANASSERO (voice-over): IMG have agents across the world trying to spot and sign up the most talented young players from Tiger and Ernie to Lydia Ko and hundreds more.
They started talking to me when I was 16 and I signed with them when I turned pro. So what does the big boss think?
KINNINGS: I think that amateurs are getting so good so young they're working that much harder, they're much more professional in what they're doing, that actually the step into the professional ranks is less daunting.
MANASSERO: Are there any ethical issues for a company like yours?
KINNINGS: Well, I think there's ethical issues to the whole game. But I think it's really important that those bodies, whether it be the RNA and the USGA and the tours kind of work together to make sure that you don't have a situation where people who are just not emotionally equipped to go out and do it.
You know we want to be able to see players who don't get burnt out, aren't fed up by the time they're in their 20s or 30s. Arnold Palmer's 84. He's in the top four highest earning athletes on the planet.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MANASSERO (voice-over): For what have you for one of golf's traditional heartlands, the United States. Before Lexi came, Michelle Wie, who won again on LPGA last month, broke all sorts of records as a teen major, working with her coach, David Leadbetter.
He's coached hundreds across the generations.
DAVID LEADBETTER, GOLF COACH: Not everybody's ready to play at a young age. I mean, the girls seem to be physically and mentally better. I mean, just watch a young Lydia Ko who we coach. I mean, she's so mature for her age. You wouldn't think she was 17 years of age.
But a lot of these kids spend less time at school; their parents are putting a lot of emphasis on them, almost from a young age, doing this career. So they're getting better coaching. They're working out. They've got a better set of equipment. Mentally they have sports psychologists and so and so forth. So I just think it's all over the world.
It's a changing game, no doubt about it. I mean, in the old days, people used to think, well, golfers used to mature in their 30s, where we're seeing that younger and younger now. I mean, it's a power game. The athleticism even plays a role and the fact that their minds are so much better and they're so much better technically, I mean it's probably going to continue.
Looked actually very good.
MANASSERO (voice-over): For me, it's a combination of all this we've heard, but more importantly, the kids and their teams are way more professional. They've got the confidence to believe that they can win and they do it.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Still to come on LIVING GOLF, the Emirates strike back.
And a driving lesson from Annika.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Welcome back to LIVING GOLF. It's the weekend here at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club. And getting a tee time is not easy. The global recession halted and in some cases killed golf developments across the region.
But now it's pretty clear that the Emirates are back. When Gary Player designed Saadiyat Beach it opened in 2010. Later the same year, Yas Links designed by Kyle Phillips became the third course in the city of Abu Dhabi alongside Saadiyat at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
There were big plans for a fourth, a title course among mangroves from Robert Trent Jones, but then the downturn came. Everything paused until now.
SHAUN O'CONNOR, CFO, TDIC: We've just finished Abu Dhabi Cityscape, which is the largest real estate conference here in Abu Dhabi and the mood is the first buoyant upbeat move I've seen in the three years that I've been here.
The fourth golf course in Abu Dhabi was going to be here on Saadiyat Island. We still expect it to be here on Saadiyat Island. We've been in the process over the last few months of dusting off the master plan for the entire development. It's 3,000-4,000 houses. It is the golf course. It is lakes, riding stables. It's a fully integrated small city that it now makes sense because the business environment is back. Real estate prices are recovering. Investment is starting to flow in. Now it makes sense to bring that asset to the market.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): We've come an hour up the road from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, where they've started building golf courses again. And you can get a sense of the money starting to roll when a certain individual shows up.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): The Akoya Development Trump Dubai Company Damac Properties, 7.5 thousand residential units, including Trump Villas, a park, malls and a Trump International golf course. The gulf architect is Gil Hanse, who's also working on the course with the real police (ph).
ZIAD EL CHAAR, MD, DAMAC PROPERTIES: The markets have started picking up since the end of the 2011. We are still at least 30-40 percent away from the peak prices that we're seeing in 2008. That will be developed course. We are now marrying tourism to real estate development. The total value of this project will be close to $6 billion U.S.
O'DONOGHUE: $6 billion U.S.?
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): They're moving fast. The course was started last June; will be grassed by the end of this year and open next.
Next door, another project, Golf City is ahead of them. But then these greens and fairways have been like this for a while. They completely built 14 holes and then the downturn hit and for four years, they've been perfectly maintained in the desert. No one has hit a ball.
TIM LOBB, THOMSON, PERRETT AND LOBB (voice-over): What's interesting about this course is actually the topography that's present.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Now things have picked up and the business plan makes sense again for the Lebanese developers Solidere. They've called back the architect to finish the job.
LOBB: We've got four holes to finish really in that location over there, which is a par 4 and a par 5 and a par 3, and a few other bits and bobs. In 12 months we should be finished and ready for play. So it's going to be exciting times and I can't wait to play the whole 18 myself.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Another day, another emirate. We've now traveled an hour further north of Dubai to the rather less well-known Ashman. And if you thought money for building golf courses in the region was restricted to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, think again.
This is part of the huge Al Zorah Project, a partnership between the ruler of Ashman and yet again the Beirut-based Solidere. It was launched just before the crash as a $55 billion development covering 12 square kilometers. It's now getting off the ground rapidly. They started the course in December and have already moved most of the earth.
It's the first-ever Jack Nicklaus design in the region. The native mangroves are the key feature.
MIKE KNUDSEN, GOLF CONSTRUCTION MANAGER, AL ZORAH: This is the -- that's the main tee for the 15th hole. When the tide comes in and the mangroves flood, this is all water. And when the tide comes in, it brings all sorts of fish and crabs and what have you in. And it leaves, it leaves little pocket with these things. And the wildlife basically follows the tide in and out.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): From Ashman to Abu Dhabi, Trump Dubai and Golf City, the domestic and foreign investment is flowing again, all projects inevitably inextricably tied to real estate. But in a couple of years' time, the ever-increasing number of golf tourists to the region will have a little more choice and maybe a little less trouble booking a weekend tee.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE: Well, after that little tour, we're now back here on the range at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club. And who doesn't want to drive the ball better? Fortunately in the first of a brand-new series of "Hot Shots," the most successful woman ever in the history of the game is going to show us how.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE: Welcome to "Hot Shots;" we're at the Annika Academy just outside Orlando with the 10-time Major winner herself, Annika Sorenstam.
Fantastic to have you on the show. And we're going to go through everything to do with driving because for club golfers like me, it's all about accuracy.
How do you like to approach your driving?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM, 10-TIME MAJOR WINNER: Well, I would agree. I mean, I think driving is probably one of the most important shots in golf, because if you think about it, you probably use a driver, what, 10-12, maybe 14 times around or even more. So you really want to make sure that you have the accuracy but, you know, distance is fun, too. You know how the golfers, we always want to have it a little further.
So I have a few keys and a few pointers I'd like to share with you. But obviously I want to see your swing first.
All right, Shane. Show me what you got.
O'DONOGHUE: As Lee Trevino says, you got to play with what you brung.
(LAUGHTER)
O'DONOGHUE: I'm not really sure what that is. But here goes.
Much higher and quite a bit right.
SORENSTAM: OK, look at your finish. Where are you?
(LAUGHTER)
SORENSTAM: When you have a longer club, makes a little tougher. But when you feel like you're swinging, you're hanging back. You get this reverse C a little bit and you were wondering maybe why you hit it high ride. Maybe next we'll let you transfer the weight over so that it's on the outside of the left and really feel like the right toe is kind of in the ground.
Pretty good. Let me show you one more thing now and then work on here.
That's where I'm trying to get you a little bit.
O'DONOGHUE: OK.
SORENSTAM: So you see that that shoulder is not just in the finish, but also at impact, it's here and not.
O'DONOGHUE: Yes.
SORENSTAM: Does that make sense? That's what I mean by high. So I mean, obviously you don't swing very hard, but really feel like a low and forward.
Yes, there.
This is where you get the power, this angle. When you come through here, the same thing here.
O'DONOGHUE: Trying to hold onto that angle.
SORENSTAM: Release it. Just boom. Yes, just don't hold it.
How's that?
O'DONOGHUE: Best shot I've hit all day, if not all year.
(LAUGHTER)
SORENSTAM: Early, it's early.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
JUSTIN PADJEN, TRACKMAN (voice-over): Take a look at your numbers here. I mean, from the beginning towards the end, definitely a lot more consistent with your club delivery. So if we're looking at face angle and club path, how you're delivering the club, you know, towards the end of the lesson, a lot more consistent which results in a consistent ball flight.
O'DONOGHUE: Yes, quite happy with that.
SORENSTAM: Yes, I think you should be happy. I mean, all is -- when you take a lesson, you become more technical. You start thinking golf instead of just playing golf. But you know, start trying to just implement one of these little, you know, these two tips and eventually I think you're more comfortable and you start swinging the club a little bit and you know, numbers, they do not lie. Sometimes we don't want to look at them, but it is important to tell you, you know, a lot of the facts obviously, you know, like distance (ph) about the club, head speed and also the angles. But it's helpful once in a while. But you know, don't get stuck too much on numbers. Focus on where fairways is important, too. You want to split up.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE: All right, just to recap, Annika, for me personally and I think for a lot of club golfers, it's actually the transition once you get to the top of the swing to be committed.
SORENSTAM: I would say really feel like you're swinging out to the target. A lot of people feel like they just swing down and then it's up. You need to use the whole body and really trying to work it together to get the maximum speed, the distance and obviously the accuracy.
O'DONOGHUE: OK. And a little bit wider at the stance in the setup.
SORENSTAM: Yes.
O'DONOGHUE: More solid.
SORENSTAM: And then about 10 bucket of balls, and you're ready.
O'DONOGHUE: Every day.
(LAUGHTER)
O'DONOGHUE: Very good. Annika Sorenstam, with a "Hot Shot" on CNN's LIVING GOLF.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Next, record-breaking Matty Manassero on winning and growing up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Welcome back to LIVING GOLF and Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Last May, our debutante reporter, the 21-year-old Matteo Manassero, won the fourth and biggest title of his career at Wentworth.
As he prepares to defend that trophy, he's agreed to take on yet another top challenge for us.
O'DONOGHUE: He's going to take me on -- what are we playing for?
MANASSERO: Playing for the honor. We're just playing for --
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
O'DONOGHUE: Some euros?
MANASSERO: Some lire, yes.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Well, thanks very much.
Different class.
All right. Game on.
Big defense coming up, wind towards --
MANASSERO (voice-over): Yes, special week. Special week.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): But it must be an amazing special week last year, I mean, to achieve such an incredible win at such a young age and to continue your form of winning every year as well.
MANASSERO: Yes, I'm sort of -- yes, I think the way these four seasons have developed, it's -- has been really nice and reaching up to Wentworth, which as I said, it was a really special week. It is every year. I had a lot of support from the crowd. The atmosphere was amazing.
I've got a trophy at home. And I look at it sometimes and --
O'DONOGHUE: Some great names on that trophy.
MANASSERO: Yes, it's an honor. I mean, it's an honor.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Nice shot, Matteo.
I think you've turned 21.
MANASSERO (voice-over): Yes.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): So you're officially a man, as they say.
MANASSERO (voice-over): Every way in the world.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): But you were a man before you were a boy in many respects, because you've played a man's game when you were a kid.
Here you've got your own --
(CROSSTALK)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): You've got your driver's license.
MANASSERO (voice-over): I've got more freedom. That's what they say.
O'DONOGHUE: So did you press your card? Did you.?
MANASSERO: Yes --
(CROSSTALK)
MANASSERO: -- no, no, I can't. I can't in Italy. We can't go fancy from the beginning. For the first three years, we need to stay under the radar.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): What did you play there?
MANASSERO (voice-over): I played a wedge off the run.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Beautiful, beautiful.
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): All right, ninth hole, final hole as well, right, it'll challenge Matteo.
Still even stevens but I have had the courtesy of a couple of shots.
Good shot.
MANASSERO (voice-over): Thanks.
(INAUDIBLE).
(LAUGHTER)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Beauty.
You did a report for us earlier in the show where, you know, coaching the kids.
Why do you think there's been so many youngsters now really kind of making such a positive impression?
MANASSERO: I'm sure that young guys 15 years ago, they were totally able, even at 17, to play with the pros. But they just probably didn't really know that they could.
O'DONOGHUE: You played with Guan Tianlang --
MANASSERO: Yes.
O'DONOGHUE: -- when he made the cut at the Masters in 2013.
MANASSERO: He was -- he was extremely mature. And he didn't know how far he was hitting a 7 iron to 12. It's just something, you know, some guys don't figure it out at 40.
O'DONOGHUE: Would you like to be on again, would you?
MANASSERO: Yes, I think when I'm older.
I'm a man now.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'DONOGHUE (voice-over): Final hole, final putt.
Go. Go, I have a line. Go.
Go.
MANASSERO: About to win there.
O'DONOGHUE: Good line, good line, good line.
I'll give you that.
In the spirit of sportsmanship, Matteo.
MANASSERO: Thank you, Shane.
O'DONOGHUE: Thanks very much. Really enjoyed it. The best of luck in Wentworth and for the rest of the season.
MANASSERO: Thank you.
O'DONOGHUE: And keep an eye out on all these young stars coming through there, nipping at your heels.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'DONOGHUE: Well, that's it for this edition of the program. Don't forget, you can keep across what we're up to online and of course you can follow us on Twitter. But for now from all of us here in Abu Dhabi, including our new reporter, Mr. Manassero, goodbye.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
END
