Chapter One: The Ace They Stole

He tightened his grip on a worn seven-iron. Wind pressed in from the front-left. Every drop on the grass trembled at once. The club struck with a sound like ice splitting. The white ball sailed over the water, landed on the green's left edge, bounced, and rode the slope toward the pin. Clink. It touched the flagstick and vanished. Silence held the tee for two seconds, then broke into shouting. Lu Chen's fingers shook. It was the first regulation hole-in-one of his career, and the first time since he had fallen off the professional circuit that fate seemed willing to look his way. He ran to the green and took the ball marked LC-17 from the cup himself. Beyond the rope, independent sports reporter Su Wanqing was holding a camera.