Alejandro del Rey (-10) set a new course record on Thursday at the Shanghai Enhance Anting Golf Club and moved into the solo lead right away. He carded a 61, with a staggering run of eight under across eleven holes, from 17 to 8. He started on the 10th. The Madrilenian returned to competition today after six weeks off, the longest break of his career, and did so with his birdie tank overflowing.
It is his lowest round ever on the DP World Tour, surpassing the 62 he recorded in Kenya last year and in the Scottish Open in 2024. For the golfer from La Moraleja going low on a golf course is nothing new. When he gets on a birdie run he can be unstoppable. In fact, he has a 58 on his record from the second round of the Swiss Challenge in 2021.
Del Rey started the day with an eagle at the 10th hole. Not a bad way to start, the best way to shake off the cobwebs after so long away from competition. He then made a birdie at 13, a bogey at 14 and from 17 the scoring spree began. Spectacular. One of those Del Rey performances that stays in the memory.
A dream return. How well the break has done him. “I took it as a kind of pre-season, so to speak, going back home, doing a lot of gym work and practising what I thought I needed to improve. The winter break isn’t as long as I’d like, so I thought it was a great time of year to properly do a pre-season and work on the things I wanted to work on”, explains the Madrid native, for whom the driver and the putter worked very well today.
Breaking the course record carries an extra bonus on the DP World Tour. Specifically, it’s paid by the company NEXO. From tournament to tournament €10,000 accumulates until someone breaks the course record and the accumulated amount is paid out. Del Rey won’t be eligible for that bonus because he played his first round placing the ball. A shame. The pot is currently at €30,000.
Despite the Spaniard’s big round, the leaderboard is fairly close. The afternoon produced better scores in Shanghai, mainly due to the rise in temperature. Early in the morning the cold was still biting and in the later groups the ball flew much farther. That allowed for more scoring opportunities, especially on the par 5s.
Del Rey is not the only protagonist of this opening day at the Volvo China Open. The other headline name is the Chinese Yanhan Zhou (-9). We’ve been talking about him on Ten Golf with his eleven wins on the China Tour between ages 15 and 18. He comes off a third place at the Hainan Classic and has started like a train. We’ll see how far he goes, but he looks sensational. Let’s remember again that he’s only 18. He began today with a run of six under in eight holes, holing extraordinary putts and hitting it very long and very straight off the tee. Crazy. At the 12th he was already at -9 and from there his production slowed with six consecutive pars to that magnificent 62. He is second alone. What a Chinese phenomenon
The best scores have come in the afternoon. Also up near the top are Shaun Norris (-8), Bernd Wiesberger (-7) and also Chinese Bowen Chai (-6), only 20 years old.
As for the Spaniards in the afternoon, a very good start also for Ángel Ayora (-4), tied in the top 10 with Quim Vidal, as well as Rocco Repetto (-3). Two solid starts that place them much closer to the lead than to the cut. Also, Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2) has recovered, like Ayora, and after being over par through the 9th he shot three under in the closing stretch. Manu Elvira (-1) and Adri Arnaus (PAR) are likewise inside the provisional cut for the tournament
