The golf calendar from October through December is often referred to as the silly season, since a number of unorthodox tournaments and unsanctioned events occupy the time of the world’s best players. But it’s also become a big stretch for promotion of the game in Asia, and both the PGA Tour and European Tour swing down to that part of the world to display their stars and do several promo activities throughout the fall.
Rory McIlroy helps 7-foot Yi Jianlian swing a golf club at clinic in China
The silly season is upon us.
Feng Li
The American tour is hosting its first ever FedExCup event in Malaysia this week, and the Euro Tour is playing the BMW Masters in Shanghai. Appearance fees are also a big draw for some of the world superstars in these less-traditional golf countries, and Rory McIlroy is spending much of his month in Asia doing promo work and cashing big checks. McIlroy played in Korea last week, China this week and will also go one-on-one against Tiger Woods in your typical silly season contrivance, “The Match at Mission Hills” in Haikou, China.
But before the Tiger showdown, young Rory put on a teaching clinic through Nike, and he was accompanied by former NBA benchwarmer Yi Jianlian, a 7-foot Chinese basketball legend. Yi apparently plays a little bit of golf, but this swing is just a bit steep (via Golf Channel):
Not the worst looking swing, but still odd to see such a giant take that kind of cut.
Matt Kuchar, who is 6’4, is considered huge on the PGA Tour. It’s hard to find extremely tall and talented golfers, since there is much greater chance for error on the swing plane when you have above-average length. Yi is obviously on the extreme side, and he makes Rory (in the yellow shirt) look like a runt.
Yi doesn’t have the best form, but he’s definitely well ahead of Yao Ming, who experimented with golf around this time last year:
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