– It’s something of a tradition. At the Volvo China Open Spanish golf usually puts in a good showing. In fact, it often produces contenders for victory right down to the very end of the tournament. This time it’s the same story, as after the completion of the morning wave of the first round Quim Vidal (-4) has positioned himself just one shot behind the two provisional co-leaders, Andrew Johnston (-5) and Adrián Otaegui (-5), who two years ago won this tournament, still with a Spanish passport, although he is now playing it for the second time under the flag of the United Arab Emirates.
– Things are not exactly easy on the course at the Shanghai Enhance Anting Golf Club (Shanghai, China). You have to play very good golf to post a score. In fact, barely twenty players returned scores under par in this morning’s session. The morning cold in Shanghai did not help matters either, quite the opposite.
– Vidal thus maintains the upward trajectory of his recent appearances. The Catalan player is actually a recent arrival on the DP World Tour (this week he is playing his twelfth event on the circuit) and, after missing several consecutive cuts at the start of 2026, he finally made the weekend at the Hainan Classic and then promptly recorded a notable 13th place in India. Next came this 67, with only one blemish.
– Additionally, three other members of the Spanish contingent are shadowing Quim near the top of the leaderboard. They are Eugenio Chacarra (-2), who last year teed off in the Sunday feature group on this very course, Ángel Hidalgo (-2) and Sebas García (-2), another player who has been playing very well lately. Hidalgo explained this same week on Tengolf that he had the healthy intention (or realistic aim) of stringing together one-under rounds, which is a graphic way of describing the pursuit of consistency. So this start in China, with a 69 and just one bogey, is not a bad beginning.
– Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, provisional co-leader, merits special mention. The Englishman, who since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has been suffering a veritable string of problems and injuries, even falling to the depths of the world rankings, has raised his head here with this 66, his best round in years. And there must be nobody in the golf world who isn’t pleased to see it…
