Staff WriterThe Volvo China Open began in Shanghai with a round from Alejandro Del Rey that had all the subtlety of a marching band in a library. The Spaniard tore through Enhance Anting Golf Club in 61 strokes, ten under par, to take a one-shot lead after an opening day that lurched from birdie runs to evening darkness.
For long stretches, Del Rey looked less like a man feeling his way back after six weeks off and more like someone who had been given the answer sheet in advance. He started on the tenth, made eagle immediately, then kept the accelerator pinned down.
By the time the field had finished craning its neck at the leaderboard, Del Rey had established the mark at ten under, with China’s Yanhan Zhou one back and the tournament already carrying a proper pulse.
Del Rey’s round had very little fat on it
This was not one of those scrappy low rounds dressed up nicely afterward. Del Rey’s score had shape, intent and a fair bit of menace.
He opened with eagle at the tenth and added a birdie at the 13th. His only dropped shot came at the 14th, but any sense of wobble vanished quickly. Across the turn he produced six birdies in seven holes, the kind of burst that leaves the rest of the field looking as though they have brought a spoon to a sword fight.
He then picked up two more shots coming home to reach ten under and lead the Volvo China Open after round one.
Just as impressive as the number was the manner of it. Enhance Anting Golf Club is not a course that hands out low scoring for good manners alone. It asks questions from every corner of the bag, and Del Rey answered nearly all of them with unnerving calm.
Alejandro Del Rey: It was great. I definitely didn’t see it coming at the beginning of the round. It’s a tough course, and you have to play well, and I guess we got a little bit lucky with the rain yesterday – it helped, because Monday, the greens were really, really firm. We were a little bit worried how it was going to play out throughout the week. It’s just a very nice round. Everything felt like it was flowing pretty nicely and I just let one of those low ones come out.
The course, it’s demanding out of every part of the game, so I guess everything worked really well. Driving was very good. It’s been fairly good throughout the year, and I was just happy to see that it’s still there after six weeks off.
I took it as like an off-season, we would call it, and go out there back home, get into the gym quite a bit, practice what I thought I had to work on. The winter break is not as long as I would like, so I thought it was a great time of the year to actually do an off-season and work on stuff I wanted to work on.
Zhou gives the home crowd something to believe in
If Del Rey provided the day’s cleanest scorecard, Yanhan Zhou supplied much of its emotional charge.
Playing his national open for the first time since securing his DP World Tour card, Zhou came out with the urgency of a man who had no interest in easing into the occasion. He made six birdies on his front nine, four of them in a row, then added an eagle at the tenth to send a jolt through the home support.
At that stage, the Volvo China Open had gone from a strong scoring day to something more animated. Every Zhou birdie seemed to come with a little extra noise, a little extra expectation, and in a national open that matters.
He added another birdie at the 12th and then, crucially, handled the worsening wind with enough poise to finish at nine under, just one behind Del Rey.
Yanhan Zhou: I am feeling great. I made seven birdies and an eagle, I just feel: ‘oh my god’. I played well on the front nine, but the back nine, the wind was getting tricky. I coped with it pretty good.
I just feel crazy on my first ten holes, I just made so many birdies and so many putts, so I just feel very good. There are so many people come here to watch me and support me, so I am very happy to get a good score and good score like this.
My dad supports me a lot. I love playing games with my dad, and my family and my friends. It’s just incredible.
There was something endearingly unfiltered about it all, and perhaps that is why the round landed so well. Zhou did not sound like a golfer trying to manufacture a storyline. He sounded exactly like what he was: a young player lighting up his home open and enjoying every second of it.
Norris, Wiesberger and the pack keep the pressure on
Behind the top two, the leaderboard has enough quality to make the second round feel far more dangerous than a simple two-man story.
South Africa’s Shaun Norris posted a bogey-free 63 to sit at eight under, a score that may have slipped slightly under the radar only because Del Rey and Zhou had already set the place crackling. Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger was alone in fourth at seven under, with China’s Bowen Chai next in line.
Further back, former champion Adrian Otaegui joined England’s Andrew Johnston, Australia’s Kuangyu Chen and Canada’s Aaron Cockerill in a group at five under. That is not traffic so much as a queue of perfectly capable opportunists.
And that is often how these events turn. One man leads on Thursday, another man lurks on Friday, and by Saturday afternoon someone who started the week off the radar is suddenly everywhere.
Darkness halts play, but the tone is set
Round one of the Volvo China Open was suspended at 6:32pm local time due to darkness and will resume at 7:45am on Friday morning.
That pause matters, not only practically but competitively. Interrupted rounds can leave players either stewing over missed chances or sleeping on momentum, and both states are dangerous in their own way.
Still, the shape of the tournament is already clear enough. Del Rey has the lead and, more importantly, the look of a player whose game is nicely stitched together. Zhou has the crowd, the confidence and a chance to turn his national open into something memorable. Norris and the chasing pack are close enough to punish any lapse.
For now, though, the opening day belongs to Del Rey. A 61 anywhere is serious business. A 61 on a demanding course, after time away, in a field full of players desperate to establish early control, is the golfing equivalent of walking into a room and switching on every light.
The Volvo China Open has only just started, but it already feels wide awake.
