The DP World Tour is back in Asia this week when the Volvo China Open is the latest tournament to take place on the Asian Swing part of the season. This is an event which has a barrel load of history but will be played at a new course this year.
Adrian Otaegui won the tournament on its return to the DP World Tour a year ago and the Spaniard will be looking to make a successful defence of his crown but a pretty solid field will be out to wrestle the title from him.
Recent Winners
2024 – Adrian Otaegui
2019 – Mikko Korhonen
2018 – Alexander Bjork
2017 – Alexander Levy
2016 – Haotong Li
2015 – Ashun Wu
2014 – Alexander Levy
2013 – Brett Rumford
2012 – Branden Grace
2011 – Nicolas Colsaerts
The Course
We are off to the Enhance Anting Golf Club just outside of Shanghai for the tournament this week. This will be the first time that the Robert Trent Jones Jr design will be used on the DP World Tour so we are going to find out a lot about the track as we go along here. According to the DP World Tour website we have a track which is a par 71 which measures 7,168 yards so like most tracks in Asia it doesn’t appear to be the longest course going around.
The other information about the course is hard to find but on the pictures that are available we see a lot of water in play which will make accuracy a key factor. That would bring similarities with Celtic Manor into play and there the greens are larger than average so you may need to be a decent putter so it looks like we have another complete test of the golf bag this week. Keep accurate hitters onside because even poor putters can do some damage on greens which are new to everyone.
The Field
You wouldn’t expect the field to be fantastic this week when it is on the other side of the world to the first major which was played last week and with the next one a mere three weeks away but we do have two members of the top 100 in the world rankings teeing it up here in the form of Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Shaun Norris, the latter who is ranked at exactly 100. The defending champion Adrian Otaegui also elevates the profile of the field.
This could be a good week for a number of players who are high up in the Race to Dubai standings with Norris leading the way at number five but two other members of the top 10 here in the form of Daniel Hillier and Keita Nakajima. There is also a bunch of players in the top 20 of those standings with the home star Haotong Li one of them along with Dylan Naidoo, Johannes Veerman, Elvie Smylie, Alejandro del Rey, Calum Hill and Eugenio Chacarra. Wenyi Ding is also here looking to win his home competition.
Market Leaders
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen is the highest ranked player in the field this week and he is a 16/1 favourite to win the tournament too. The Dane hasn’t been seen on the DP World Tour since the Qatar Masters two months ago. He finished second in that tournament and will be aiming to go one better here. This will be the first time that he has competed in the China Open so it certainly isn’t a bad thing that this is at a new track as far as he is concerned. He can’t be ruled out.
Keita Nakajima is the second favourite for the week. He is a couple of points bigger than the Dane at 18/1. Prior to The Masters, the Japanese star had finished second in Singapore and in India so he is certainly a player in form and he will be hoping that the break hasn’t halted the momentum that he has. Clearly he is ideally suited to Asian conditions and if he hasn’t lost any of the confidence and ball striking quality in the few weeks off there is a case to be made that he could be the one to beat here.
The Chinese pair of Haotong Li and Wenyi Ding are next in the betting at 22/1. Haotong has won this tournament in the past, although it was a different course that he won on. That does tell us that the pressure of being the home player isn’t one which sits uncomfortably with him. Haotong Li won the Qatar Masters a couple of months ago which feels significant. The young star Wenyi Ding has been consistent this term without getting his name deep on a leaderboard but he can’t be ruled out either. It is 25/1 bar those named.
Main Bets
I think Haotong Li is a fairly obvious pick this week. I’ll play slightly shorter than the best prices because I’d like the extra place as we are at a new track but he has won this tournament before, won on a similar layout in terms of an exposed course in Qatar just two months ago and he will obviously be extremely motivated to win in front of his own fans once again. It isn’t just in Qatar where Haotong has gone well this season, he was in the top 10 in the Singapore Classic in his last tournament and with comfort in the conditions I’ll take the Chinese superstar to win again this week.
Matthew Jordan generally goes well on exposed layouts as well and at 25/1 there is just about enough juice in his price this week for me to get involved. He comes into the tournament with a trio of top 12 finishes in succession so we know that he is in decent form and it might be that form is the overriding factor this week given that the course is an unknown to pretty much everyone in the field. Jordan sits in the top 15 of the strokes gained tee to green on the DP World Tour this season and with the greens new to everyone I think we need to take notice of the long game. Jordan is an acceptable main bet to me.
Outsiders
Pablo Larrazabal had a good week in the long game department out in India recently where he finished T10 overall and if he can be competitive on a tight and tough track like that one then there is no reason why he can’t go very well here. Larrazabal generally struggles off the tee so the fact that his long game was in such good order in India certainly bodes well and that wasn’t a fluke because he also finished second in Bahrain earlier in the campaign. The Spaniard has four top 10 finishes in this tournament so he clearly likes China and I think he is worth an outsider bet.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat ranked seventh in strokes gained from tee to green in India a couple of weeks ago and he definitely has the long game to get himself in the mix and the touch around the greens to be competitive as well. The Thai has a win in China on his CV when he won the Shenzhen International so we know that he can compete in the conditions and with two top 10s as well as the T13 he registered in India on the season so far there is some solid form in the book for the Asian ace. He completes my team this week.
Tips
Back H.Li to win Volvo China Open (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
Back M.Jordan to win Volvo China Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back K.Aphibarnrat to win Volvo China Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 91.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back P.Larrazabal to win Volvo China Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 91.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-6)
