Haotong Li bounced back from his near miss in Shanghai last week by taking a share of the lead after the first day of the Hainan Classic, which was brought to a premature end due to bad weather.
Related: Eugenio Chacarra aiming for more Sunday success in Hainan
The opening round at Mission Hills Haikou started in the red-hot Hainanese sun, but ended with all afternoon groups still to finish with play being brought to a close at 4:00pm local time in Haikou.
China’s Li, Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat were therefore left sitting atop the leaderboard after posting six under par rounds of 66 on the Blackstone Course, one clear of China’s Zihao Jin and Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen on five under, with last year’s HotelPlanner Tour Number One having played 13 holes of his opening round.
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Li, who won his fourth DP World Tour title at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters earlier this year, finished in a tie for fourth at last week’s Volvo China Open, where he fought until the very end as he chased down eventual winner Ashun Wu, and he continued that vein of form into the first round in Hainan.
Starting from the tenth, the 29-year-old birdied the par five 12th and picked up back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th to make the turn at three under par. He bogeyed the first – his tenth – but bounced back straight away with a birdie at the second.
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He then then picked up another trio of birdies at the fourth, sixth and seventh to card a fine round of 66 and take a share of the lead alongside Aphibarnrat and Reitan.
Player quotes
Haotong Li: I’ve been playing really solid the whole day and very pleased to finish with a good score like today.
I think you have to avoid the danger. The fairway is quite wide but you still have to hit a good shot. I’ve been really good with my approach shots today and been holing some putts. Just a good day.
Kristoffer Reitan: Very pleased. Been struggling the last couple of days with my swing and I just found something that made me commit a little bit more to my shots and felt like that worked out a lot. Had a little bit of luck in there as well. Felt like it was my type of day, so I was happy with that
Kiradech Aphibarnrat: Really happy with the way I’m playing, ball striking seems good, holed a lot of putts. Hopefully my shoulder should be okay, it’s a little tight today, which came from a bad sleep last night but overall, a six under par round is such a good start.
It’s always lovely playing here. Blackstone is one of the best 100 golf course in Asia, maybe even in the world. I know conditions might be not the best this week because it’s so hot and maybe they might not have had enough rain in the last couple of weeks, but still in good shape and one of the best golf courses.
