Golf legend Greg Norman has picked out China as the world’s most exciting golf development opportunity.

Visiting the Mission Hills club in advance of November’s World Cup event, which will be held on the resort’s Olazabal course, Norman said: “I have been coming here for a short period of time in my business career, but to see what has happened in China has been phenomenal.

“I think it is incumbent upon the government, incumbent on corporations, incumbent on the golf associations of this country to all stay together and develop the game. The World Cup is a catalyst to find the new generation of golfers. It does not have to be from the United States or Australia or Spain or Scotland, where all the great players have come from in the past. I think China is leader of the pack in the growth and development of the game. I think it will stay that way for many, many years to come.”

The likely admission of golf to the fold of Olympic sports has been highlighted by many observers as a catalyst for development of the game in the country, with anything up to 2,000 new courses potentially being built over the forthcoming years.