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When golf legend Jack Nicklaus was in Beijing, China, in April, making a special appearance at the inaugural Pine Valley Beijing Open, he conducted a junior clinic for up-and-coming young golfers. Special Olympics China athlete Jia Sirui got to meet Nicklaus, winner of a record 18 Major titles, and was selected to demonstrate the pitch shot with the “Golden Bear.”
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While he was in Beijing, China, at the inaugural Pine Valley Beijing Open, golf legend Jack Nicklaus conducted a junior clinic for young golfers, including Special Olympics China athletes. |
Approximately 160 golfers are expected to compete at the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, 2-11 October.
The Special Olympics golf program is centered on two educational phases designed to encompass all skill levels: learning to swing a golf club and learning to play the game. Athletes may participate in Skills, 9-hole stroke play or 18-hole stroke play.
Special Olympics golf includes five levels of competition:
Level 1: Individual Skill Contest - entry-level athletes are tested for six skills similar to on-course play, including a wood shot, an iron shot, a pitch shot, a chip shot, a long putt and a short putt.
Level 2: Unified Sports® Team Play Competition - a nine-hole alternate shot format that teams a Special Olympics player with a non-Special Olympics player of more advanced skill and knowledge.
Level 3: Unified Sports Team Play - 18-hole alternate shot format that teams a Special Olympics player with a non-Special Olympics player of similar ability
Level 4: Individual Stroke Play - 9-hole
Level 5: Individual Stroke Play - 18-hole
As noted above, Special Olympics athletes can also participate in Unified Sports® Golf Team Play. Special Olympics Unified Sports is a program that combines Special Olympics athletes and athletes without intellectual disabilities (partners) on sports teams for training and competition. In Unified Sports golf, a team would include one Special Olympics athlete and one partner; teammates are paired based on similar ability.
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Special Olympics China athlete Jia Sirui was selected to demonstrate the pitch shot with Jack Nicklaus, affectionaltely nicknamed the "Golden Bear" by his admiring fans. |
Golf Facts
- Golf made its debut at the 1995 Special Olympics World Summer Games in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
- At the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games, held in North Carolina, USA, Kevin Erickson of Wisconsin, USA, broke a Special Olympics World Games record by scoring a 78 at Washington Duke Country Club Golf Course. (Meet Kevin Erickson, his mother, and grandmother in the "Meet our Families" section of this Web site.)
- 119 athletes from 12 Programs competed in golf at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin, Ireland.
- As of the 2005 Special Olympics Athlete Participation Report, 13,916 Special Olympics athletes compete in golf.
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