Out of the Rough: Volvo China Open (2025)

Following a near two-week hiatus, the DP World Tour returns to action to cap off its Asian Swing with this week’s Volvo China Open.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Volvo China Open, having been held since 1995 with a one year absence in 2022.

This event is one co-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and the China Tour. 

The Volvo China Open has been a part of the DP World Tour schedule since 2004.

This event is a bit nomadic, having been played at 12 different golf courses during its previous 29 years of existence. The Shanghai Silport Golf Club has hosted the most times, at seven. 

The previous two installments (2023 & 2024) were held at the Hidden Grace Golf Club.

This year’s installment will be held at the Enhance Anting Golf Club, which will host its first Volvo China Open this season.

The Field

There is a lot to play for this week and due to that, many of the DP World Tour’s top players will turn out to China to tee it up.

On top of this event serving as the final stop of the DP World Tour’s Asian Swing with a $200,000 bonus to the Swing’s leader, the top three players at the conclusion of this Volvo China Open in the Asian Swing will receive a spot in the field for next month’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

As it stands, Keita Nakajima currently leads the Asian Swing standings heading into the final week with Eugenio Chacarra and Richard Mansell occupying the next two spots. 

Nakajima and Chacarra will tee it up this week as Mansell will not.

Adrian Otaegui comes in as the defending champion as he held off Guido Migliozzi by a stroke a season ago.

Otaegui will look to become the first player to win back-to-back Volvo China Open titles in the tournament's 30-year history.

Also playing this week are a slew of DP World Tour winners on the season, including Elvis Smylie, Johannes Veerman, Shaun Norris, Alejandro del Rey, Dylan Naidoo, Calum Hill and Eugenio Chacarra.

Another season winner playing this week is Haotong Li, who claimed the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters earlier this season. Li comes in as China’s highest ranked golfer and will seek his second Volvo China Open title, winning previously in 2016. 

Other notable golfers looking to claim victory on home soil include Beijing Native Wenyi Ding who turned professional a season ago after an outstanding amateur career. Jin Zihao, the 2024 China Tour Order of Merit winner and current full-time DP World Tour player will also be playing this week. Taichi Kho, who became the first Hong Kong player to win on the Asian Tour in 2023 and Brandon Wu, a Chinese-American player who recently was a full-time PGA Tour player are also included in the field. 

Other former Volvo China Open winners teeing it up this week include Zhang Jin (2021,) Ashun Wu (2015,) Alexander Levy (2014 & 2017) and Nicolas Colsaerts (2011.)

The Course

As previously mentioned, this week’s host, the Enhance Anting Golf Club, will host its first Volvo China Open this season. 

It is a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design that was opened in 2005.

It plays as a Par-72 at roughly 7,3000 yards on the scorecard.

The Enhance Anting Golf Club is situated to the North of Shanghai in the center of China’s automotive industry.

It was designed in a way to mask the surrounding industrial landscape with the use of constructed mounds around the course.

This Parkland style course is best described as a true risk-reward golf course. It is characterized by extensive use of water.

The Enhance Anting Golf Club too boasts attractive bunkering throughout the course.

The combination of both the water and bunkers help create an enjoyable, yet testing layout. This combination too creates the risk-reward style of this golf course.

The course makes it way through lovegrass and fescues, along with native grasses which line both the fairways and the greens this week.

Cedar and Magnolia trees were planted throughout the course to add a feeling of environmental harmony.

In all, what was once a barren wasteland has been transformed into a true golf-oasis in the heart of the Chinese automotive industry.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is at most a 35-percent chance of precipitation on Saturday. The rest of the work currently forecasts just a five-or-ten percent chance of precipitation. Winds will be at the highest on Thursday at ten miles-per-hour before dipping to eight miles-per-hour on Friday. Winds will jump back to nine miles-per-hour on Saturday before falling to seven miles-per-hour on Sunday. Temperatures will be at the highest on Thursday and Friday at 86-degree before gradually decreasing to 75-degrees come Sunday.

Key Stats

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

• Average Driving Distance

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Par 5 Average Scoring

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Scrambling

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Birdie or Better Percentage

Betting Card

Haotong Li (+2200)

Per my stats-based model, Haotong Li is my overall favorite this week and that has nothing to do with him playing on home soil. Li is currently second on Tour in SG: APP, third in birdie or better percentage, fourth in SG: TTG, fifth in GIR%, seventh in par-five average scoring, 12th in average driving distance, 68th in scrambling and 93rd in SG: PUTT. Li hasn’t played since the Porsche Singapore Classic where he placed ninth. Prior to that he placed 16th at the Investec South African Open Championship, 41st at the Magical Kenya Open, 24th at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship, 22nd at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship and 52nd at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Li of course won the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Li won this event, although at the Topwin Golf and Country Club, in 2016. He played in this event a season ago where he placed T35th at the Hidden Grace Golf Club. 

Shaun Norris (+3500)

There are a lot of unknowns about this golf course but one thing that transcends most courses is putting. There is currently no one better on Tour in SG: PUTT than Norris, who ranks number one. He is also first on Tour in birdie or better percentage, third in scrambling, fourth in par-five average scoring, 37th in SG: TTG, 62nd in GIR%, 65th in SG: APP and 106th in average driving distance. Norris has been one of the best players on the DP World Tour this season. Of golfers who have played at least five tournaments, heck even three tournaments, no one has a better average finishing placement than Norris. Norris has an average finish placement of 6.8 through five tournaments. Laurie Canter is the closest with an average finishing placement of 17.33 through six tournaments. Norris last played at the Joburg Open where he finished second. He also placed ninth at the Investec South African Open Championship, 16th at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, sixth at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and won the Alfred Dunhill Championship. 

Alejandro Del Rey (+4000)

Del Rey has had a mixed bag of results this season. He won the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, sandwiched between three missed cuts at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship and Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. He’s returned to form a bit as of late, placing 25th at the Investec South African Open Championship and 14th in his latest outing at the Porsche Singapore Classic. Del Rey placed 35th in China a season ago as well. Fellow countryman Adrian Otaegui was the victor at Hidden Grace Golf Club a season ago. Del Rey is currently fourth on Tour in birdie or better percentage, 32nd in average driving distance, 35th in par-five average scoring, 36th in SG: TTG, 39th in SG: PUTT, 44th in GIR%, 48th in SG: APP and 77th in scrambling. 

Jacob Skov Olesen (+8000)

Olesen is currently 16th on Tour in par-five average scoring, 26th in SG: TTG, 32nd in GIR%, 46th in scrambling, 49th in SG: APP, 56th in average driving distance, 64th in birdie or better percentage and 85th in SG: PUTT. Olesen is in great form coming in. He placed seventh in his last outing at the Joburg Open. He also placed 13th at the Magical Kenya Open, ninth at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open and 27th at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open earlier this season.