Rising Chinese star Li Haotong is bidding to build on his impressive performance in the WGC-HSBC Champions in this week’s BMW Masters, which is being held at his home club, Lake Malaren Golf Club.
His tied seventh finish at Sheshan International Golf Club was the best performance by a Chinese player in a World Golf Championship event, and Li – who lost out in a play-off to Kiradech Aphibarnrat at the Shenzhen International earlier this season – is now determined to entertain his growing army of fans with another stellar performance in Shanghai this week.
Having been raised only a stone’s throw from the course, Li knows Lake Malaren like the back of his hand and the 20 year old is hoping to benefit from his home advantage when he tees up in the US$7 million tournament, the penultimate event of The European Tour’s ‘Final Series’.
He said: “Last week’s performance really helped me lift my confidence. I had actually been struggling quite a bit, but last week it was like an explosion. That really was a career-high for me, and I hope it was a turning point for me to do even better down the line.
“I’m so delighted to be here and to participate in this tournament at Lake Malaren, which is my home course. With the support of all the fans, I would like to do well for them. It is such a happy thing for me to be here, and I would like to enjoy these upcoming days to return the kindness and hospitality of everybody.”
Like Li, Wu Ashun is attached to Lake Malaren and is also a BMW ambassador, so the 30 year old is understandably keen to add the BMW Masters to the China Open title he won earlier in April.
Wu, who has been drawn alongside Martin Kaymer and Henrik Stenson in the first two rounds, said: “Obviously I’ve been looking forward to this week for a while. Being sponsored by both BMW and Lake Malaren, if I could repeat my success from earlier this year, it couldn’t be a better finish to the season.
“Winning my national Open meant a lot in my life. It was great to win there and the significance was tremendous. It was also a gigantic step for the development of golf in China as well.
“It gave me a chance to play on The European Tour for two years. It’s fantastic to be able to compete with Justin and Henrik, it is such a great pleasure. I certainly would like to do my best on these big occasions.”
