Alejandro del Rey carded a stunning 61 to edge ahead of teenage sensation Yanhan Zhou and open up a one-shot lead after day one of the Volvo China Open on Thursday.
Zhou, who only turned 18 earlier this month, thrilled the home crowds as he got to nine under through 12 holes and, showing a composure beyond his years, looked certain to take the first-round lead at Enhance Anting Golf Club.
But as he parred his final six holes to card a bogey-free 62, Del Rey matched his front-nine 29 after starting on the tenth to storm to ten under and lead the way.
With no shortage of rain in the build-up and preferred lies in place, it was a low scoring day in Shanghai, with South African Shaun Norris at eight under, one clear of Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.
Spaniard del Rey was making his first start of the Asian Swing but showed no signs of rust as he carded an eagle, nine birdies and a bogey.
He had previously played every event of the International Swing and two events before the festive break – missing just a single cut – and felt taking some time away from competitive golf had done him good.
“I thought about it as an off-season,” he said. “Go back home and get into the gym quite a bit and practise what I need to work on.
“The winter break is not as long as I would like so I thought it was a great time of year to do an off-season and work on stuff.”
He made a brilliant start with an eagle in the tenth and while he added three more birdies to a single bogey in his first nine holes, he was still well down the leaderboard at that point.
A birdie on the first then saw him join the early clubhouse leaders and a hat-trick of gains from the third catapulted him into contention.
A smart approach to the seventh put him in a share of the lead and when he took advantage of the driveable eighth, he was alone in double figures.
“It was great,” he said. “I definitely didn’t see it coming at the beginning of the round, it’s a tough course and you have to play and I guess we got a little bit lucky with the rain yesterday, it helped.
Home favourite Bowen Chai was then at six under.
Australian Kuangyu Chen holed out for a spectacular eagle on the par-four seventh and he was at five under alongside 2024 champion Adrian Otaegui, Canadian Aaron Cockerill and England's Andrew Johnston.
Source: www.dpworldtour.com