Haotong Li started the day in a three-way tie for the lead at the Volvo China Open and fired four birdies and two bogeys for a 69 to reach 12-under and retain a share of the lead ahead of the final day.
“Definitely not my best today,” said the Chinese favourite. “Glad I still have a chance to compete on Sunday.
“So far, so good. I’m really enjoying the support of the crowd and I know everyone is rooting for me so hopefully I can deliver something special tomorrow.
“It was a strange day. It felt that everything was going my way until number 10 when I went in the wrong spot and tried to be cute, and end up losing momentum a little bit. I just need to play better tomorrow.
“I’ve already mentally prepared for tomorrow, so hopefully tomorrow it will be just like Sunday [when I won] in Qatar. I just play my game. If I play my best golf, no one else can catch me.”
Overnight co-leader Eugenio Chacarra who hurt his thumb at the end of his second round made a single bogey for his 69 and his share of the 54-hole lead.
“It was a grind, my thumb is not 100 per cent and the start was tough,” said the Spaniard. “It was a grind all day, we knew it was going to be like that, I started the day not knowing if I was going to finish so I’m glad I pushed through it. It is way better than it was after the round yesterday.
“Hopefully tomorrow it will be more back to normal and have the chance to chase the lead on the last couple of holes.”
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat closed with a bogey-free 65 to move into solo third place at 11-under.
Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen had held the lead or co-lead since Thursday but a colourful round featuring three consecutive birdies from the 1st, three more birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey at the par-3 12th for a 71 saw him drop down into a share of fourth place at 10-under alongside Germany’s Yannik Paul (67) and China’s Zecheng Dou (68).
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| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 | R2 | R3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LI, Haotong | -12 | 69 | 63 | 69 |
| | CHACARRA, Eugenio | -12 | 65 | 67 | 69 |
| 3 | APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | -11 | 69 | 68 | 65 |
| 4 | PAUL, Yannik | -10 | 68 | 68 | 67 |
| | DOU, Zecheng | -10 | 70 | 65 | 68 |
| | PULKKANEN, Tapio | -10 | 62 | 70 | 71 |
| 7 | SMITH, Jordan | -9 | 68 | 69 | 67 |
| 8 | WU, Ashun | -8 | 68 | 70 | 67 |
| | BAI, Zhengkai | -8 | 67 | 71 | 67 |
| 10 | OLESEN, Jacob Skov | -7 | 72 | 69 | 65 |
| WU, Brandon | -7 | 70 | 68 | 68 | |
| | MOSCATEL, Joel | -7 | 71 | 68 | 67 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | -7 | 71 | 66 | 69 |
| 14 | SCHNEIDER, Marcel | -6 | 70 | 70 | 67 |
| | JARVIS, Casey | -6 | 71 | 67 | 69 |
| | DING, Wenyi | -6 | 70 | 69 | 68 |
| | KOBORI, Kazuma | -6 | 67 | 70 | 70 |
| 18 | KINHULT, Marcus | -5 | 71 | 73 | 64 |
| | KIM, MK | -5 | 70 | 69 | 69 |
| | SMYLIE, Elvis | -5 | 67 | 70 | 71 |
| 21 | NORRIS, Shaun | -4 | 72 | 71 | 66 |
| | PURCELL, Conor | -4 | 72 | 70 | 67 |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | -4 | 69 | 70 | 70 |
| | NEERGAARD-PETERSEN, Rasmus | -4 | 69 | 70 | 70 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | -4 | 74 | 65 | 70 |
| VAILLANT, Tom | -4 | 72 | 67 | 70 | |
| | LUITEN, Joost | -4 | 71 | 67 | 71 |
| 28 | LEVY, Alexander | -3 | 72 | 72 | 66 |
| | DONALDSON, Jamie | -3 | 70 | 69 | 71 |
| | BALDWIN, Matthew | -3 | 71 | 71 | 68 |
| | MOLINARI, Edoardo | -3 | 69 | 67 | 74 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | -3 | 72 | 66 | 72 |
| 33 | JAMIESON, Scott | -2 | 72 | 70 | 69 |
| | AYORA, Angel | -2 | 71 | 72 | 68 |
| | DEL REY, Alejandro | -2 | 71 | 71 | 69 |
| | ZANOTTI, Fabrizio | -2 | 73 | 67 | 71 |
| | XIAO, Bowen | -2 | 70 | 69 | 72 |
| | JORDAN, Matthew | -2 | 68 | 71 | 72 |
| | SCRIVENER, Jason | -2 | 67 | 71 | 73 |
| 40 | BERRY, Joshua | -1 | 76 | 67 | 69 |
| | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | -1 | 70 | 72 | 70 |
| | ELVIRA, Nacho | -1 | 69 | 73 | 70 |
| | LEMKE, Niklas | -1 | 70 | 71 | 71 |
| | GUERRIER, Julien | -1 | 70 | 71 | 71 |
| | TARREN, Callum | -1 | 71 | 68 | 73 |
| | PENGE, Marco | -1 | 69 | 69 | 74 |
| | DE BRUYN, Jannik | -1 | 69 | 65 | 78 |
| | HILLIER, Daniel | -1 | 68 | 69 | 75 |
| 49 | FISHER, Ross | Par | 77 | 67 | 69 |
| | LANGASQUE, Romain | Par | 73 | 71 | 69 |
| KNAPPE, Alexander | Par | 75 | 68 | 70 | |
| | SCHMIDT, Ben | Par | 73 | 69 | 71 |
| | WILLIAMS, Robin | Par | 71 | 71 | 71 |
| | KHO, Taichi | Par | 68 | 73 | 72 |
| | GUMBERG, Jordan | Par | 67 | 71 | 75 |
| 56 | TING, Lawrence | +1 | 72 | 72 | 70 |
| | ZHOU, Yanhan | +1 | 69 | 75 | 70 |
| | LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo | +1 | 69 | 75 | 70 |
| | WIESBERGER, Bernd | +1 | 74 | 70 | 70 |
| | STONE, Brandon | +1 | 70 | 72 | 72 |
| | GO, Lloyd Jefferson | +1 | 72 | 70 | 72 |
| 62 | LAGERGREN, Joakim | +2 | 72 | 72 | 71 |
| | REITAN, Kristoffer | +2 | 72 | 68 | 75 |
| | SENIOR, Jack | +2 | 74 | 69 | 72 |
| | JIAN, Chuan-lin | +2 | 70 | 69 | 76 |
| 66 | HALVORSEN, Andreas | +3 | 76 | 68 | 72 |
| | KIEFFER, Maximilian | +3 | 78 | 66 | 72 |
| 68 | HIDALGO, Angel | +4 | 73 | 71 | 73 |
| 69 | LI, Linqiang | +5 | 71 | 73 | 74 |
| 70 | COLSAERTS, Nicolas | +6 | 74 | 70 | 75 |
| 71 | LINDELL, Oliver | +7 | 72 | 72 | 76 |
| 72 | HAK, Shun Yat | +11 | 72 | 72 | 80 |
| CUT | |||||
| 73 | ÅKESSON, Björn | +3 | 74 | 71 | - |
| | COUVRA, Martin | +3 | 69 | 76 | - |
| | KATSURAGAWA, Yuto | +3 | 70 | 75 | - |
| | HEBERT, Benjamin | +3 | 71 | 74 | - |
| | VEERMAN, Johannes | +3 | 73 | 72 | - |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | +3 | 76 | 69 | - |
| | CAMPILLO, Jorge | +3 | 71 | 74 | - |
| 80 | CHEUNG, Matthew | +4 | 73 | 73 | - |
| | FOO, Gregory | +4 | 73 | 73 | - |
| | NAIDOO, Dylan | +4 | 72 | 74 | - |
| | WINTHER, Jeff | +4 | 72 | 74 | - |
| | FORREST, Grant | +4 | 73 | 73 | - |
| | CHAI, Bowen | +4 | 76 | 70 | - |
| | CUI, Edan (AM) | +4 | 73 | 73 | - |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | +4 | 75 | 71 | - |
| 88 | SHEN, Wang Ngai (AM) | +5 | 69 | 78 | - |
| | HAYASHI, Takumi | +5 | 72 | 75 | - |
| | CHEN, Guxin | +5 | 74 | 73 | - |
| | PAVAN, Andrea | +5 | 73 | 74 | - |
| | DENG, Tao | +5 | 72 | 75 | - |
| | LINDBERG, Mikael | +5 | 73 | 74 | - |
| | COCKERILL, Aaron | +5 | 77 | 70 | - |
| | GERMISHUYS, Deon | +5 | 72 | 75 | - |
| 96 | PINEAU, Pierre | +6 | 76 | 72 | - |
| | LI, Zhengqian (AM) | +6 | 72 | 76 | - |
| | SYME, Connor | +6 | 73 | 75 | - |
| | ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon | +6 | 71 | 77 | - |
| | WORRALL, George | +6 | 74 | 74 | - |
| ZHANG, Jin | +6 | 75 | 73 | - | |
| | VON DELLINGSHAUSEN, Nicolai | +6 | 79 | 69 | - |
| | NAKAJIMA, Keita | +6 | 74 | 74 | - |
| | VINCENT, Jake | +6 | 74 | 74 | - |
| | LIU, Yu-Jui | +6 | 77 | 71 | - |
| 106 | CAO, Senshou | +7 | 77 | 72 | - |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | +7 | 74 | 75 | - |
| | HILL, Calum | +7 | 71 | 78 | - |
| | CROCKER, Sean | +7 | 73 | 76 | - |
| | GREEN, Gavin | +7 | 73 | 76 | - |
| | SCHNEIDER, Jan | +7 | 73 | 76 | - |
| | SÖDERBERG, Sebastian | +7 | 78 | 71 | - |
| | ZHANG, Lianwei | +7 | 74 | 75 | - |
| | JIN, Cheng | +7 | 76 | 73 | - |
| 115 | LUO, Xuewen | +8 | 75 | 75 | - |
| | STRYDOM, Ockie | +8 | 74 | 76 | - |
| | BROWN, Hamish | +8 | 72 | 78 | - |
| | LIN, K.P. | +8 | 77 | 73 | - |
| | LAM, Isaac | +8 | 74 | 76 | - |
| 120 | BRIXI, Gordan | +9 | 74 | 77 | - |
| | WONG, Michael Regan | +9 | 78 | 73 | - |
| | TANG, Haizhao | +9 | 77 | 74 | - |
| | SHARMA, Shubhankar | +9 | 82 | 69 | - |
| | FAN, Jicheng | +9 | 78 | 73 | - |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | +9 | 76 | 75 | - |
| 126 | NAKAI, Kento | +10 | 79 | 73 | - |
| | FANG, Yu | +10 | 76 | 76 | - |
| | WILSON, Andrew | +10 | 72 | 80 | - |
| | MIZUNO, Shinichi | +10 | 78 | 74 | - |
| | HUANG, Yi-Tseng | +10 | 77 | 75 | - |
| | CHANG, Xihuan (AM) | +10 | 76 | 76 | - |
| | JIN, Zihao | +10 | 77 | 75 | - |
| | ZHANG, Yuze | +10 | 76 | 76 | - |
| | TONG, Yang | +10 | 75 | 77 | - |
| 135 | RAMSAY, Richie | +11 | 74 | 79 | - |
| | NAGAI, Gen | +11 | 78 | 75 | - |
| | BJERREGAARD, Lucas | +11 | 74 | 79 | - |
| | CHEN, Zihao | +11 | 82 | 71 | - |
| 139 | LI, Zhengda (AM) | +12 | 81 | 73 | - |
| | FU, Yihao | +12 | 75 | 79 | - |
| | SHEN, Nan-nan | +12 | 75 | 79 | - |
| | CHUNG, Sydney | +12 | 75 | 79 | - |
| | WANG, Zi | +12 | 78 | 76 | - |
| | YE, Wo-cheng | +12 | 74 | 80 | - |
| 145 | LIU, Enhua | +13 | 79 | 76 | - |
| | YANG, Yinong | +13 | 78 | 77 | - |
| 147 | KO, Jeong weon | +14 | 80 | 76 | - |
| | SCHWAB, Matthias | +14 | 79 | 77 | - |
| 149 | LI, Kymer Xuzhong | +15 | 79 | 78 | - |
| | PENG, Bo | +15 | 76 | 81 | - |
| 151 | GARCIA-HEREDIA, Alfredo | +16 | 78 | 80 | - |
| 152 | LOMBARD, Zander | +17 | 78 | 81 | - |
| 153 | WU, Hongfu | +18 | 75 | 85 | - |
| 154 | CHEN, Yilong | +20 | 84 | 78 | - |
| 155 | PANG, Ming | +23 | 80 | 85 | - |
| RETD | WU, Di | +9 | 77 | - | - |
Simon Bale
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