Ashun Wu will be aiming to create history in Shanghai this week when he tees it up at Enhance Anting Golf Club for the 2026 Volvo China Open.
The home favourite, who carded a final round 65 last year to secure his second national championship having triumphed a decade earlier, will attempt to become the first player to successfully defend his title and win the Volvo China Open for the third time – a feat that would add to the tournament’s rich 31-year history.
Related: McIlroy ready to resume DP World India Championship starring role
Wu enters the week with just ten events under his belt since his last victory, the reduced schedule a result of a tennis elbow injury that the 40-year-old is confident he has since overcome.
View this post on Instagram
Wu, a five-time DP World Tour winner, will need to outplay a strong field of local and international talent to hold the trophy aloft again, including New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier.
This week marks Hillier’s first appearance since winning his national open in March, a victory that catapulted him into the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking and came mere days after his nuptials to long-time partner Siobhan.
The 27-year-old currently sits tenth in the Race to Dubai Delivered by DP World Tour Rankings and will be eager to pick up right where he left off, having achieved four top ten finishes across six starts so far this season.
Two players also looking to capitalise this week in Shanghai are Spain’s Jorge Campillo and Eugenio Chacarra.
View this post on Instagram
The pair sit third and fourth on the Asian Swing Rankings respectively and, with the top three players at the conclusion of the swing to earn a place in next month’s US PGA Championship, will be aiming to make their mark in the penultimate event.
They will be joined by a strong Chinese contingent that will look to do their country proud, including 18-year-old Yanhan Zhou and 21-year-old Wenyi Ding.
View this post on Instagram
The pair have enjoyed impressive starts to the DP World Tour season to date; Zhou, the 2025 China Tour Order of Merit winner, finishing in a share of third last month in Hainan and Ding, the 2024 Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion, being runner-up in Australia late last year.
The Volvo China Open, which is co-sanctioned with the China Tour, hosted by the China Golf Association and title-sponsored and promoted by Volvo Cars, was first played in 1995.
This year sees it return to Enhance Anting Golf Club, located in the Jiading region of Shanghai, for a second consecutive year. The total prize fund for the event is US$2.75 million, with 3,500 Race to Dubai points on offer.
Player quotes
Ashun Wu:This tournament is very, very important to me. The first win in 2015 sent me to the DP World Tour. It was wonderful, it improved my career and I have opportunity to compete with the top players. Ten years later, I won again. It’s always very happy to win a home country’s open, so I’m very happy and proud.
I wanted to take time and give my elbow time to recover. I took 100% of time off and then I could start to play golf, I think that’s the smart way to play. That’s why I took a lot of time off last year, to take time to recover. Right now, it’s perfect. I don’t have to worry about it, so I think that was a good choice.
View this post on Instagram
I think for everyone, the goal is to win and compete for the title, but it’s tough. In golf, anything can happen, like Rory (McIlroy), he won two times in a row – a special master. That tells us anything can happen, just do your best.
You can see a lot of young players coming from China, playing DP World Tour and on the PGA TOUR. I think there are a lot of juniors playing golf in China, the government and the China Golf Association has improved that. In the future, I think we will see a lot of Chinese players playing on the Tour, not just one, two or three – maybe 10 or 20 or something.
