Out of the Rough: Hainan Classic (2025)

The DP World Tour will remain in China for a second consecutive week for this week’s Hainan Classic. 

This year will serve as the inaugural playing of this event. It will be co-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and the China Tour.

Although in the same country, last week’s venue for the Volvo China Open, the Enhance Anting GC, sits roughly 1,253 miles away from this week’s venue, Blackstone Course.

The Tour takes to Hainan Island, a roughly 13,000 square mile island province of China that serves as the southernmost point of the country.

Although this course is new to the DP World Tour, it has hosted several important golf tournaments over the years.

It hosted the 2012 WGC-HSBC Championship won by Ian Poulter and the 2011 Omega Mission Hills World Cup won by Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodlands.

The Field

This week’s field will look much like that of last week.

The field is headlined by the likes of China’s own Haotong Li, who held a share of the 54-hole lead last week at the Volvo China Open before going on to finish T4th.

Ashun Wu comes into this week fresh off claiming his nation’s open by winning the Volvo China Open a week ago. 

Other notable Chinese nationals teeing it up this week include Dou Zecheng and Ding Wenyi.

Other notable golfers teeing it up this week include Eugenio Chacarra, Johannes Veerman, Julien Guerrier, Angel Hidalgo, Adrian Otaegui, Keita Nakajima, Jorge Campillo and Daniel Hillier. 

The Course

The Blackstone Course of the Mission Hills Haikou is renowned as one of the best golf courses in all of Asia.

It is a part of the Mission Hills Complex, which is the world’s second-largest golf resort that features ten championship courses. 

The course is set on top of an ancient lava field, known for its volcanic landscape. It is routed through dense jungle and open wetlands with lychee trees throughout.

It was designed by Brian Curley and opened in 2011.

It plays as a par-73 at a staggering 7,808 yards. The course was established to challenge the elite players of the world.

One of the course’s claims-to-fame is its ability to seamlessly blend the golf course into the natural environment.

For example, the bunkers seamlessly transition into lava rock-filled waste areas.

The fairways are described as both tumbling and feature dramatic elevation changes.

One of the featured holes of this golf course is the par-three fifth that plays over a lava field to a tiered green surrounded by a waste area.

The front-nine of this golf course is routed through dense forest as the back-nine climbs to higher elevation and offers panoramic views of the property.

The back-nine also features back-to-back par-fives, a rarity across professional golf. The first of which is the 12th hole, which is one of the easier holes on the golf course. That is followed by the daunting 681-yard 13th hole.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is at least a 35-percent chance of precipitation across all four days this week. Thursday is calling for a 40-percent chance of precipitation, Friday a 55-percent chance, Saturday a 35-percent chance and Sunday a 35-percent chance. Both Saturday and Sunday are calling for a chance of thunderstorms. Winds will begin at ten miles-per-hour on Thursday before peaking at 11 miles-per-hour on Sunday. Winds will then drop to five miles-per-hour for Saturday before returning to nine miles-per-hour on Sunday. Temperatures will be the highest on Thursday at 94-degrees before dipping to 86-degrees for both Friday and Saturday. They’ll bounce back to 89-degrees for Sunday. Hainan Island is a tropical area, so humidity could be a factor as well.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Average Driving Distance

• Scrambling

• Sand Saves Percentage

• Birdie or Better Percentage

• Par 5 Scoring Average

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

Betting Card

Marco Penge (+4500)

This is a monster of a course and a venue we’re not all too familiar with. When talking about last week’s Volvo China Open, also at an unfamiliar venue, I weighted putting heavily, as it typically is a stat that transcends at new venues. With that being said, Penge possesses the rare combination of elite distance off-the-tee and elite putting. He is currently third on Tour in average driving distance and fourth in SG: PUTT. He is also fourth in birdie-or-better percentage, 11th in par-five average scoring, 94th in sand saves percentage, 98th in SG: TTG and 134th in scrambling. Penge has played in each of the last six DP World Tour events. He placed 26th last week at the Volvo China Open, missed the cut at the Hero Indian Open, placed 49th at the Singapore Classic, 19th at the Joburg Open, third at the Investec South African Open Championship and 20th at the Magical Kenya Open. 

Niklas Lemke (+6000)

The veteran Swede has played in five events so far this season, placing 37th or better in each of them. He placed 22nd last week at the Volvo China Open. He also placed 37th at the Joburg Open, 13th at the Magical Kenya Open, tenth at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and 33rd at the AfrAsia Mauritius Open on the season. He is currently 20th on Tour in SG: TTG, 21st in both average driving distance and scrambling, 29th in par-five average scoring, 30th in sand saves percentage, 44th in SG: PUTT and 101st in birdie-or-better percentage. 

Jacob Skov Olesen (+7000)

I’m going back to the well with the young Dane. He played well last week at the Volvo China Open, finishing eighth. In his two starts prior he also placed seventh at the Joburg Open and 13th at the Magical Kenya Open. He also placed ninth at the AfrAsia Mauritius Open and 27th at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open earlier this season. Olesen is currently 15th on Tour in par-five average scoring, 22nd in SG: TTG, 25th in scrambling, 49th in sand saves percentage, 52nd in birdie-or-better percentage, 56th in SG: PUTT and 66th in average driving distance.

Freddy Schott (+10000)

We haven’t seen Schott on the DP World Tour since the Singapore Classic where he missed the cut. He made his latest two starts on the HotelPlanner Tour where he placed sixth at the UAE Challenge and 24th in last week’s Adu Dhabi Challenge. He does have some great performances on the DP World Tour earlier this season however, placing seventh at the Magical Kenya Open, fifth at the AfrAsia Mauritius Open, 16th at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open and 15th at the BMW Australian PGA Championship. Schott is currently sixth on Tour in average driving distance, eighth in par-five average scoring, 15th in SG: PUTT, 29th in sand saves percentage, 34th in birdie-or-better percentage, 36th in scrambling and 85th in SG: TTG.