Oct 31, 2019: China’s highest ranked player Li Haotong heads a tightly packed international leaderboard after a sensational 8-under-par opening round of 64 gives him a one-shot lead at the 15th edition of the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan Golf Club.
Li, who finished T7th here in 2015, is a two-time European Tour winner and improved his best score at Sheshan Golf Club by two shots as he became the first Chinese player to lead a World Golf Championship. He bids to become only the second player in tournament history to win having held the first round lead. Francesco Molinari achieved the feat in 2010.
“It would be great joy for Chinese golfers and Chinese golf fans to have a Chinese player winning a WGC-HSBC Champions here in China, but for the next three days, anything could happen. So, I don’t want to think too much about it, I just want to focus and concentrate to keep this momentum going”.
Making up the rest of the top ten are players from as many as ten different nationalities, with France’s Victor Perez , who is making his WGC debut after claiming a maiden European Tour victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last month, sat in solo second place after an opening 65 (-7).
Major Champion Adam Scott and world no. 2 Rory McIlroy are sat in 3rd and 7th place respectively while defending champion Xander Schauffele needed only 24 putts in a round of 66 to sit in T3. Last year the American also opened his week with a round of 66 en-route to victory.
Asian Tour Release
