Li Haotong announced his name on the world stage in swashbuckling style as the 20 year old claimed a maiden European Tour victory on home soil at the Volvo China Open, courtesy of a flawless eight under par final round 64.
In front of ecstatic and adoring home fans, Li proved why is regarded as a superstar in the making by becoming the second successive home winner of this event after a thrilling finish at Topwin Golf and Country Club.
Felipe Aguilar flew out of the blocks and looked odds on to take the title as the Chilean took a three shot lead early on. Li, however, piled the pressure on the leader with a four under par front nine before starting the back nine with back to back birdies.
In a superb display of iron play, he picked up two more shots at the 15th and the 17th and Aguilar’s hopes sank with a double-bogey at the par three 16th, where he found the water with his tee shot.
Li – who won a Volvo China Junior event six years ago and played his first professional tournament as an amateur at this tournament in 2011 – earned a three shot victory with a 22 under par total, Aguilar’s closing 69 earning him outright second place while Lucas Bjerregaard, Richard Bland and Marcel Siem shared third spot on 18 under par.
Li Haotong
“It means so much to me, I cannot even describe. It’s especially special because I won a Volvo China Junior event in 2010 and so I love the Volvo China Open – it was my first professional event too. For me it means a lot. Last year I played great in this event but I didn’t play well in the last round so I’m really happy to be holding this trophy right now.
“Last week in Sheznen I didn’t play very well – didn’t hit the ball well and didn’t hole many putts but I just relaxed myself this week. I didn’t even think I would make the cut this week, seriously, so it’s just amazing.
“After 14 holes I didn’t look at the scoreboard, but I just played within myself and just wanted to hang in there – keeping it on the fairways and the greens.
“At 18, my third shot – it was the most nervous I’ve been in my whole life. Last year I was leading by two in Shenzhen but Kiradech Aphibarnrat made eagle so I just thought, I can’t lose a shot on the last hole. This opens up so many doors for me and I will be sitting down with my family and my agent now speaking about these things.”
Felipe Aguilar
“It’s a good week. Before you even start playing, if someone tells you you’re going to finish second, you take it. It was a good overall week except for one hole, one swing, and unfortunately that was on the 16th hole today. Besides that I’m quite happy with the way I played this week.
“I haven’t been playing very and I played well this week. This was a turning point. I’m into the Olympics now representing my country. There are too many positive things just to worry about one bad shot.”
Lucas Bjerregaard
“It’s a good week. Obviously I haven’t been playing great coming here so it’s nice to be in contention and feel that pressure again and I thought I handled myself pretty well out there. On the front nine it seemed like I was on the wrong side of the hole a lot so I had some tough putts that I didn’t really get things going.
“Felipe played awesome on the front nine, so did Haotong. They posted some good numbers on the first nine holes and I couldn’t really get it going so it was a quiet day for me. I hit a lot of greens but didn’t make a lot of putts.
“Not as good as yesterday and I was hoping to be a little more in contention coming down the last few holes but all in all it’s a good week. I’ll go home and take a lot of positives from this. I’m looking forward to the Irish Open and BMW PGA Championship and all those events. It will be a good stretch, a busy summer.”
