Li is proud of how far the tour has progressed since then.

"At the very beginning, organizing these events was tricky due to our inexperience. And we faced shortages of all kinds of talents, including referees.

"Back then, I remember our players were very shy. So we added some special prizes to encourage them, such as an award for the most photogenic golfer. We asked our photographers to find the best smiles on the course. We also had the best outfit award to encourage our players to express themselves on the course."

Veteran Ye Liying, who played in the LPGA of Japan tour, was Zeng's Shanghai team leader at the National Games. The 43-year-old focuses on coaching these days but returned as a competitor at last week's championship.

"This is my first official tournament in about five years. I tried to prepare as best I could but it clearly was not enough compared with the more competitive youngsters," Ye told China Daily.

"I used to play on the China LPGA Tour. In the early days, the players were pretty limited and there weren't enough tournaments. But now we have more and more quality tournaments and we are seeing the emergence of more and more talented young players.

"The development of Chinese women's golf takes time, and requires the joint efforts of many aspects of society. The China LPGA Tour has grown a lot, but compared to other foreign tours, the number of players is still low."

Ye added that attracting more sponsors and, in turn, increasing prize money will be key to maintaining the tour's good momentum, pointing out that many players struggle to earn enough to make pursuing a career worthwhile.