Yanhan Zhou was proud after finishing in a sensational tie for third place on home soil at the 2026 Hainan Classic presented by MAEXTRO.
Zhou, aged just 17, finished 15 under par after he followed up three successive 68s with a final round of 69 at Mission Hills.
That left him tied with previous DP World Tour winners Adrian Otaegui and Marcus Armitage and behind only winner Jordan Gumberg and runner-up Jorge Campillo.
"I'm very proud," he said. "I never thought I'd come in the top five this week.
"I just wanted to focus on every shot, every hole, and it was a good result.
"I just wanted to do my best, there's a lot of my friends coming here and family coming here, I just want to do my best and just let it go."
A closing bogey denied him a fourth straight 68 but Zhou nonetheless received the prize for the leading Chinese player.
He was grateful for the support of the home fans, with several oversized cutouts of his face seen behind the tee boxes along the way.
"They were cheering when I made birdie or I made par, which encouraged me a lot," he said.
"When you play outside (of China), for me there's not a lot of spectators to watch me. For this week, they really encouraged me a lot."
The result swelled Zhou's bank account by the small matter of just over 114,000 euros - equivalent to almost 912,000 Chinese Yuan - lifted him to 73rd on the Race to Dubai Rankings delivered by DP World and offered encouragement for his next outing on the DP World Tour next month.
"This will give me very much confidence to play well for the next events," he said. "I'm very much looking forward to playing the Volvo China Open."
