Tapio Pulkkanen signed for a bogey-free, 9-under 62 featuring an eagle at the par-4 4th to take a three-shot lead at the Volvo China Open.
“A great start,” said Pulkkanen. “My putter was really hot, I think I missed just one putt inside 15 feet. A lot of good putts and solid tee to green. It was a good score.
“I think I was a bit lucky with a couple of putts as well, they went in on the edge of the hole. A solid wedge game, a lot of wedges inside six feet, so I was able to make easy birdies as well.
“I hit my five iron off the tee (on the fourth), one or two clubs too much, and I was quite close to the pin. I tried to hit a low wedge shot to jump forward and it did exactly what I tried, so it was perfect.
“I did some good work back home in Finland, although it was snowing a couple of days. My iron game was good. Overall, everything was awesome.”
The Finn, who has yet to win on the DP World Tour, lost his card in 2023 but regained it after finishing 19th in the Road to Mallorca last year.
Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra who won his maiden title at the Hero Indian Open in March, lies in second place at 6-under.
China’s Zhengkai Bai, Australians Jason Scrivener and Elvis Smylie, New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori and American Jordan Gumberg all shot 67 for a share of third place at 4-under.
Play was suspended due to darkness at 18:23 with thirteen players yet to finish. Play will resume at 07:15 on Friday.
Related: Classic brands and retro styles return to the course
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PULKKANEN, Tapio | -9 | 62 |
| 2 | CHACARRA, Eugenio | -6 | 65 |
| 3 | GUMBERG, Jordan | -4 | 67 |
| | SCRIVENER, Jason | -4 | 67 |
| | SMYLIE, Elvis | -4 | 67 |
| | BAI, Zhengkai | -4 | 67 |
| | KOBORI, Kazuma | -4 | 67 |
| 8 | KHO, Taichi | -3 | 68 |
| | WU, Ashun | -3 | 68 |
| | JORDAN, Matthew | -3 | 68 |
| 8 | PAUL, Yannik | -3 | 68 |
| | HILLIER, Daniel | -3 | 68 |
| | SMITH, Jordan | -3 | 68 |
| 14 | SHEN, Wang Ngai (AM) | -2 | 69 |
| | COUVRA, Martin | -2 | 69 |
| | ELVIRA, Nacho | -2 | 69 |
| | MOLINARI, Edoardo | -2 | 69 |
| | LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo | -2 | 69 |
| | ZHOU, Yanhan | -2 | 69 |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | -2 | 69 |
| | NEERGAARD-PETERSEN, Rasmus | -2 | 69 |
| | PENGE, Marco | -2 | 69 |
| | DE BRUYN, Jannik | -2 | 69 |
| | APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | -2 | 69 |
| | LI, Haotong | -2 | 69 |
| 26 | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | -1 | 70 |
| | DONALDSON, Jamie | -1 | 70 |
| | KATSURAGAWA, Yuto | -1 | 70 |
| | JIAN, Chuan-lin | -1 | 70 |
| | GUERRIER, Julien | -1 | 70 |
| | XIAO, Bowen | -1 | 70 |
| | SCHNEIDER, Marcel | -1 | 70 |
| | CROCKER, Sean | -1 | - |
| | DING, Wenyi | -1 | 70 |
| | DOU, Zecheng | -1 | 70 |
| | STONE, Brandon | -1 | 70 |
| | WU, Brandon | -1 | 70 |
| | KIM, MK | -1 | 70 |
| | LEMKE, Niklas | -1 | 70 |
| 40 | KINHULT, Marcus | Par | 71 |
| | WILLIAMS, Robin | Par | 71 |
| | DEL REY, Alejandro | Par | 71 |
| | HILL, Calum | Par | 71 |
| | TARREN, Callum | Par | 71 |
| | AYORA, Angel | Par | 71 |
| | ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon | Par | 71 |
| | HEBERT, Benjamin | Par | 71 |
| | LI, Linqiang | Par | 71 |
| | LUITEN, Joost | Par | 71 |
| | BALDWIN, Matthew | Par | 71 |
| BAIRSTOW, Sam | Par | 71 | |
| | CAMPILLO, Jorge | Par | 71 |
| | JARVIS, Casey | Par | 71 |
| | MOSCATEL, Joel | Par | 71 |
| 55 | LI, Zhengqian (AM) | +1 | 72 |
| | WILSON, Andrew | +1 | 72 |
| | HAK, Shun Yat | +1 | 72 |
| | TING, Lawrence | +1 | 72 |
| | JAMIESON, Scott | +1 | 72 |
| | NORRIS, Shaun | +1 | 72 |
| | BROWN, Hamish | +1 | 72 |
| | HAYASHI, Takumi | +1 | 72 |
| | NAIDOO, Dylan | +1 | 72 |
| | WINTHER, Jeff | +1 | 72 |
| | LINDELL, Oliver | +1 | 72 |
| | LAGERGREN, Joakim | +1 | 72 |
| | DENG, Tao | +1 | 72 |
| | OLESEN, Jacob Skov | +1 | - |
| | VAILLANT, Tom | +1 | - |
| | GERMISHUYS, Deon | +1 | 72 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | +1 | 72 |
| | GO, Lloyd Jefferson | +1 | 72 |
| | REITAN, Kristoffer | +1 | 72 |
| | LEVY, Alexander | +1 | 72 |
| | PURCELL, Conor | +1 | 72 |
| 76 | SCHMIDT, Ben | +2 | 73 |
| | CHEUNG, Matthew | +2 | 73 |
| | FOO, Gregory | +2 | 73 |
| | LANGASQUE, Romain | +2 | 73 |
| | PAVAN, Andrea | +2 | 73 |
| | SYME, Connor | +2 | 73 |
| | FORREST, Grant | +2 | 73 |
| | WORRALL, George | +2 | - |
| | CUI, Edan (AM) | +2 | - |
| | ZHANG, Jin | +2 | - |
| | GREEN, Gavin | +2 | 73 |
| | SCHNEIDER, Jan | +2 | 73 |
| | VEERMAN, Johannes | +2 | 73 |
| | HIDALGO, Angel | +2 | 73 |
| | ZANOTTI, Fabrizio | +2 | 73 |
| 91 | BRIXI, Gordan | +3 | 74 |
| | ÅKESSON, Björn | +3 | 74 |
| | STRYDOM, Ockie | +3 | 74 |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | +3 | 74 |
| | RAMSAY, Richie | +3 | 74 |
| | CHEN, Guxin | +3 | 74 |
| | LAM, Isaac | +3 | 74 |
| | SENIOR, Jack | +3 | 74 |
| | LINDBERG, Mikael | +3 | - |
| | BJERREGAARD, Lucas | +3 | - |
| 91 | WIESBERGER, Bernd | +3 | 74 |
| | NAKAJIMA, Keita | +3 | 74 |
| | VINCENT, Jake | +3 | 74 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | +3 | 74 |
| | ZHANG, Lianwei | +3 | 74 |
| | YE, Wo-cheng | +3 | 74 |
| | COLSAERTS, Nicolas | +3 | 74 |
| 108 | LUO, Xuewen | +4 | 75 |
| | FU, Yihao | +4 | 75 |
| | SHEN, Nan-nan | +4 | 75 |
| | CHUNG, Sydney | +4 | 75 |
| | CHANG, Xihuan (AM) | +4 | - |
| | WU, Hongfu | +4 | 75 |
| | TONG, Yang | +4 | 75 |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | +4 | 75 |
| | KNAPPE, Alexander | +4 | 75 |
| 117 | HALVORSEN, Andreas | +5 | 76 |
| | PINEAU, Pierre | +5 | 76 |
| | FANG, Yu | +5 | 76 |
| | PENG, Bo | +5 | 76 |
| | CHAI, Bowen | +5 | 76 |
| | ZHANG, Yuze | +5 | 76 |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | +5 | 76 |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | +5 | 76 |
| | JIN, Cheng | +5 | 76 |
| | BERRY, Joshua | +5 | 76 |
| 127 | CAO, Senshou | +6 | 77 |
| | LIN, K.P. | +6 | 77 |
| | HUANG, Yi-Tseng | +6 | 77 |
| | PANG, Ming | +6 | - |
| | WU, Di | +6 | - |
| | TANG, Haizhao | +6 | 77 |
| | COCKERILL, Aaron | +6 | 77 |
| | JIN, Zihao | +6 | 77 |
| | FISHER, Ross | +6 | 77 |
| | LIU, Yu-Jui | +6 | 77 |
| 137 | MIZUNO, Shinichi | +7 | 78 |
| | GARCIA-HEREDIA, Alfredo | +7 | 78 |
| | NAGAI, Gen | +7 | 78 |
| | WONG, Michael Regan | +7 | - |
| | FAN, Jicheng | +7 | 78 |
| | LOMBARD, Zander | +7 | 78 |
| | WANG, Zi | +7 | 78 |
| | SÖDERBERG, Sebastian | +7 | 78 |
| | KIEFFER, Maximilian | +7 | 78 |
| | LIU, Enhua | +7 | 78 |
| | YANG, Yinong | +7 | 78 |
| 148 | NAKAI, Kento | +8 | 79 |
| | LI, Kymer Xuzhong | +8 | 79 |
| | SCHWAB, Matthias | +8 | 79 |
| 151 | KO, Jeong weon | +9 | 80 |
| | VON DELLINGSHAUSEN, Nicolai | +9 | - |
| 153 | LI, Zhengda (AM) | +10 | 81 |
| 154 | SHARMA, Shubhankar | +11 | 82 |
| | CHEN, Zihao | +11 | 82 |
| 156 | CHEN, Yilong | +13 | 84 |
Simon Bale
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