DID YOU KNOW – VOLVO CHINA OPEN
• Defending champion, Ashun Wu will be aiming to become the first player to successfully defend the Volvo China Open, after claiming the trophy in 2015.
• Wu created European Tour history 12 months ago by becoming the first Chinese player to win a European Tour event on home soil.
• The Volvo China Open will be played for the 22nd time, having first been contested in 1995, won by Raul Fretes at the Beijing International Golf Club.
• In the 21 previous stagings of the Volvo China Open there have been 21 different winners, from 14 different countries. Australia, China and England have the most wins with three. For Australia they are: David Gleeson ((2002), Scott Strange (2009) and Brett Rumford (2013). For England they are: Ed Fryatt (1998), Simon Dyson (2000) and Paul Casey (Nov 2005 – part of the 2006 European Tour season). The host nation’s wins were by Chen Jun (1997), Zhang Lian-wei (2003) and Wu (2015).
• Venue for the 2016 Volvo China Open is the Topwin Golf and Country Club. This is the first time the Bejing venue has been used for a European Tour event and is one of eight new courses to be used this season.
• The Volvo China Open had the distinction of being the first European Tour event to be played twice in the same season. This occurred in the 2006, firstly played in November 2005, won by Paul Casey and then by Jeev Milkha Singh in April 2006.
• European Tour history was made at the 2013 Volvo China Open. Ye Wo-cheng became the youngest player to compete in a European Tour event, aged just 12 years and 242 days. He broke the record of Guan Tian-lang, who was 13 years and 177 days in this event in 2012.
• A man with fond memories of the Volvo China Open is Nicolas Colaserts. The Belgian claimed his maiden Tour title in this event in 2011. He came very close to making a successful defence in 2012, finishing second. In 2010 he was also finished in the top ten, claiming a tie for eighth. Colsaerts went onto win his second title in another Volvo-sponsored tournament, this time the 2012 Volvo World Match Play Championship. Should he win this week be would become the first player in European Tour history to win his first three European Tour events with the same title sponsor.
• This tournament will be Volvo’s longest continuous sponsorship of a professional event, having first put their name to China’s National Open in 1995. This beats the 21 years Volvo sponsored the Volvo Masters, between 1988-2008 inclusive.
• The 2016 season sees Volvo’s 30th consecutive year of European Tour sponsorship. The first event was the 1987 Belgian Open.
