Tiger Woods will "redo a 27-hole facility," currently called Holiday Golf Club, that will reopen as Pacific Links National Golf Club, according to Bob Harig of ESPN. Woods is "headed to Asia this weekend" for a series of clinics in addition to announcing the golf course design project in China. Nike Golf said that Woods "would be in China and Japan to 'help stoke local interest in the sport of golf and inspire athletes.'" The golf course was "expected to be announced" Thursday. Woods was "chosen to redesign a course in Beijing, his first foray into Asian golf course design" (ESPN, 4/22). In London, James Corrigan reported Woods may be "pitched into a scenario" that could bring him into direct conflict with China President Xi Jinping, a man who "cares even less for golfing reputations than Patrick Reed." If it "goes ahead -- and with Woods at the moment, participation never is certain -- Beijing will witness the announcement" of a £11M ($16.6M) design project "covered in his iconic name." Yet in terms of being guarded and secretive, the unveiling will "make one of Woods's notoriously tight-lipped press conferences seem like a Jeremy Kyle confessional." It will be "stressed" that Woods will "simply be overhauling the 27-hole Tian’an Holiday Golf Club, just outside the capital, and will definitely not be constructing a 'new' layout." And the suggestion that there are "plans for a 'new' layout will be hastily passed over." There is a "very good reason" for this. Xi, who also holds the title of general secretary of the Communist Party of China, has "declared war on the ancient game and the authorities have begun shutting golf courses" down (London TELEGRAPH, 4/22).
