Volvo China Open 2025 Preview, Picks & Analysis

After a three-week break, the DP World Tour returns this week with a strong field taking part in the Volvo China Open in Shanghai at Enhance Anting Golf Club.

With a purse of $2.55 million, the golf action will be intense as the 30th anniversary of the national championship marks the penultimate stop of the DP World Tour’s Asian Swing.

There is an added incentive with the top three players at the end of the four-tournament swing securing a place in the field for next month’s US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

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Adrian Otaegui is the defending champion and will be in Shanghai attempting to become the first player to win back-to-back China Open titles.

To do so, he will have to beat a field featuring eight players who have already won on the DP World Tour this season. These include Elvis Smylie, Johannes Veerman, Shaun Norris, Alejandro del Rey, Dylan Naidoo, Calum Hill, Eugenio Chacarra, Jordan Smith, and China's number one Li Haotong, the 2016 Volvo China Open champion who won the Qatar Masters in February and will be followed by huge and enthusiastic galleries.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

But with former Volvo China Open champions Wu Ashun, Zhang Jin, Nicolas Colsaerts and two-time winner Alexander Levy also in the field, Otaegui knows he is in for a tough week if he is to achieve a successful title defence.

The Spaniard said: "Defending a title is always a great feeling and hopefully I can do that." Last year he overcame a five-shot deficit to win by a stroke in Shenzhen.

"I just want to do the best I can and the China Open has a great history with a long list of winners. I want to be in contention on Sunday and that is what motivates me."

Li has a reputation for being inconsistent but he has found something in 2025. Apart from his win in Qatar, he finished in a tie for ninth at the Singapore Open and tied 16th at the South African Open and is riding high in the Race to Dubai. Nothing would give him more pleasure than another victory on home soil.

The championship also provides a great opportunity for golf fans to get a close-up view of some of the game’s rising stars, among them Beijing native Wenyi Ding, a DP World Tour rookie who turned professional last year after an outstanding amateur career.

Jin Zihao, the 2024 China Tour Order of Merit winner, is another now playing full-time on the DP World Tour and will undoubtedly be looking to challenge at his national championship after finishing equal 35th last year.

Others in the field include Taichi Kho, who in 2023 became the first Hong Kong player win on the Asian Tour, and American-Chinese Brandon Wu, the former PGA Tour regular who is now playing on the DP World Tour.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest galleries will be for Keita Nakajima. The Japanese star turned professional in 2022 after spending 87 weeks at the top of the World Golf Amateur Ranking, eclipsing Jon Rahm’s previous record of 60 weeks.

After four wins on the Japan Tour, including one as an amateur, the 24-year-old captured his first DP World Tour title last year when he went wire-to-wire to win the Hero Indian Open. He is currently ninth in the Race to Dubai Rankings after runner-up finishes in Singapore and India.

Nakajima said he is looking forward to returning to China, a country he has not visited since 2019 when he played in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Shanghai, a tournament he would eventually win in 2021.

"I have great memories of the tournament. I remember the fans being very passionate about the sport and I enjoyed every minute of it," said the Saitama native. "National opens are very important. They are the most prestigious event in each country we play. I would love to win many national opens, including the Volvo China Open."

Amateurs Li Zhengda and Li Zhengqian are also in action, marking the first time Chinese brothers will play in the China Open field. In November, 14-year-old Li Zhengda won the boy’s group competition at the 19th Volvo China Junior Match-Play Championship in Hainan, a tournament where he beat his older brother, Li Zhengqian, 3&2 in the quarter-final.

The Course:

Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, Enhance Anting Golf Club is situated to the north of Shanghai in the centre of the country’s automotive industry but Trent Jones Jr has masked the surrounding industrial landscape by constructing mounds round the periphery of the course. There are also a lot of trees to be avoided. It is a par 72 measuring 7,281 yards.

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2015 by Ashun Wu, in 2016 by Haotong Li, in 2017 by Alexander Levy, in 2018 by Alexander Bjork, in 2019 by Mikko Korhonen, in 2020 by Hulin Zhang, in 2021 by Jin Zhang, in 2023 by Sarit Suwannarut and last year by Adrian Otaegui. There was no tournament in 2022.

Form Guide:

Haotong Li won his home Open was back in 2016. He is a notoriously inconsistent player but seems to have found something this year, winning in Qatar and also enjoying a couple of top-20 finishes.

Prize Money:

The total prize fund is $2.5m, with 3,500 Race to Dubai points and 1,000 Ryder Cup points on offer.

How to Watch:

Thursday, April 17, Friday, April 18, Saturday, April 19, Sunday, April 20, Sky Sports Golf, 6am.

To Win:

Haotong Li. Looking to do it for home fans

Each Way:

Keita Nakajima. Could be a superstar in the making

Each Way:

Shaun Norris. Grip it and rip it

Five to Follow:

Haotong Li. Finding some sort of consistency

Keita Nakajima. The real deal

Shaun Norris. Imperious ball striker

Calum Hill. Bursting with confidence

Jordan Smith. Beautiful golf swing

Five Outsiders to Watch:

Li Zhengda. One for the future

Jin Zihao. Home favourite

Kiradech Aphibarnrat. Great entertainer

Alexander Levy. Looking for a way back

Rafa Cabrera Bello. In the wilderness