Airtimes: Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore and Taipei Wednesday, July 14 at 2030 Thursday, July 15 at 1130 Saturday, July 17 at 1900 Sunday, July 18 at 0330 & 1630 Monday, July 19 at 0900
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Wednesday, July 14 at 1930
Thursday, July 15 at 1030 Saturday, July 17 at 1800 Sunday, July 18 at 0230 & 1530 Monday, July 19 at 0800
From conquering golf courses to creating them, this week's TALK ASIA hits the links with arguably the greatest golfer of all time, Jack Nicklaus. With 18 major titles to his name, the legendary 'Golden Bear' welcomes CNN's John Vause to his newest course outside of Beijing and opens up about Tiger Woods edging closer to his record, his passion for course design and why he has high hopes for the future of Chinese professional golfers. He won his 18th and final major title in Augusta, Georgia at the age of 46 but Tiger Woods is twelve years his junior and needs only five more majors to catch him: "He's probably as talented a player as ever played the game. His dedication to breaking my record has been very strong. I frankly don't have a problem with that one way or the other. I've done what I did and my record is there. It stands for itself and usually records are made to be broken. If Tiger passes it, he passes it. I just want to be there, shake his hand and say well done." The American also declines to comment on his fellow golfer's much-publicised personal turmoil: "It's none of my business. My interest in Tiger is as a golfer. What Tiger does outside of the golf course is his own business," but he believes that what happens off-the-course does affect performance on the green: "Everything impacts the game. If you are physically not well or if you are emotionally not well, yeah sure. Not only affects him, but it affects other people in exactly the same way." Happily married to his wife Barbara for more than four decades with five children and seventeen grandchildren, Nicklaus' personal life is as successful as the one he led on the course. He stresses that family has always been his priority: "I didn't want to have won five or ten more majors and not ever know my kids. My kids are the most important thing. My kids all know me. We play golf together. We travel together. That to me is what life is all about. It's not about how many golf tournaments you win. Golf tournaments are relatively unimportant to me, particularly in number." The Golden Bear's influence on golf as its most successful player is rivalled only by his reputation as the world's leading golf course designer. Today over 350 courses around the world are created under his family company Nicklaus Design, of which 18 are in China. As the designer shows Vause his newest course outside of Beijing, he explains why he has high hopes for the country's golfing future: "Look at the population of China. Look at the facilities. The effort that the government will put in to help support the sport that's going to be an Olympic sport...I wouldn't be a bit surprised in ten or fifteen years to see maybe half the players in the world come from this part of the world in China." Having spent more than forty years competing on the green, Nicklaus says that he is now enjoying a different side of the sport: "My interest is competing with a piece of land and being able to challenge the piece of ground, and saying ‘okay, now I am able to be here to grow the game of golf and put something here." And while most people retire to play golf, the 70-year-old hints as to what professional golfers do when they retire. "Well I have played golf all my life. Most people worked all their lives to play golf. I played golf all my life to retire to work. That's in essence what I am doing." Nicklaus' interview with TALK ASIA will be available online at www.cnn.com/talkasia after the first airing. For more information, please visit www.CNNPressroomAsia.com. Related links: Talk Asia official site Talk Asia Facebook page |
