TOP Chinese amateur Hu Mu will make his first local appearance of the year when the BMW Asian Open tees off Thursday at Tomson Pudong.

The Florida-based 17-year-old has been given a sponsor's invite into the US$2.3 million tournament and he comes into the event amid a frenzy of US colleges looking to recruit the Shenzhen native.

About 40 US universities have offered him full scholarships and Hu said he has narrowed his choices down to Tiger Woods' alma mater, Stanford University in California, and the University of Florida.

"I have been getting a lot of offers but I want to take a year off and play some tournament golf around China. I want to play around here and see what I can get into. I need more time for practice just to get better and then go to college in 2008."

Getting better is something Mu has done progressively as he first came to notice in 2001 when he won the 15-18 years category at the China Junior Golf Open as an 11-year-old.

Now ranked 25th in the Golfweek/Titleist Junior Rankings in America, Hu started the year out on a winning note when he captured the Dixie Amateur in Florida in January.

"The game is feeling pretty good," said the David Leadbetter prodigy. "The swing is getting better and I am making more contact (with the ball). I am just trying to hit a lot more solid shots. I tend to miss a few shots a round and I need to eliminate those."

"I am just trying to focus on every single shot and not try and get ahead of myself."

(Shanghai Daily April 17, 2007)