Alejandro del Rey fired an eagle at the par-5 10th as well as nine birdies and a single bogey to close with a 10-under 61 and take the clubhouse lead at the Volvo China Open.
“It was great,” said del Rey. “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.
“It was a very nice round, everything felt like it was flowing pretty nicely and I had one of those low ones come out.”
Del Rey is playing in his first start of the Asian Swing having decided to take a break in the new year.
“I thought about it as an off-season,” said the Spaniard. “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.”
China’s Yanhan Zhou who turned 18 earlier this month carded a flawless 62 featuring an eagle at the 10th and four consecutive birdies from the 5th and lies in second place at 9-under.
Zhou, who is coached by his father, has won eleven times on the China Tour and won the Order of Merit last year as well as finishing third at last month’s Hainan Classic.
“I’m feeling great,” said Zhou. “Seven birdies and an eagle, I just feel ‘oh my God!’.
“I played well on the front nine but on the back nine the wind is getting tricky and I coped with it pretty good.
“It felt crazy on my first ten holes, I just made so many birdies and so many pars so I feel very pleased.
“There are so many people have come here to watch me and support me so I’m very happy to get a good start.
“My dad supports me a lot and I love to play games with my family and friends, it’s incredible.”
South African Shaun Norris carded a bogey-free 63 and lies in third place at 8-under, one ahead of Austrian Bernd Wiesberger who shot a bogey-free 64.
Several players were still on the course when play at the Volvo China Open was suspended due to darkness.
Related: The Finicky Golfer – Loraloma
| Pos. | Player | Thru | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DEL REY, Alejandro | F | -10 | 61 |
| 2 | ZHOU, Yanhan | F | -9 | 62 |
| 3 | NORRIS, Shaun | F | -8 | 63 |
| 4 | WIESBERGER, Bernd | F | -7 | 64 |
| 5 | CHAI, Bowen | F | -6 | 65 |
| 6 | JOHNSTON, Andrew | F | -5 | 66 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | F | -5 | 66 |
| | COCKERILL, Aaron | F | -5 | 66 |
| | CHEN, Kuangyu | F | -5 | 66 |
| 10 | VIDAL, Quim | F | -4 | 67 |
| BRYANT, Davis | F | -4 | 67 | |
| | LOMBARD, Zander | F | -4 | 67 |
| | RODRIGUES, Daniel | 17 | -4 | - |
| | KANEKO, Kota | F | -4 | 67 |
| | AYORA, Angel | F | -4 | 67 |
| | LIU, Yue | F | -4 | 67 |
| | KRUYSWIJK, Jacques | F | -4 | 67 |
| | SCHNEIDER, Marcel | F | -4 | 67 |
| 19 | LAW, David | F | -3 | 68 |
| | DING, Wenyi | F | -3 | 68 |
| | VAILLANT, Tom | F | -3 | 68 |
| | SCHNEIDER, Jan | F | -3 | 68 |
| | SCRIVENER, Jason | F | -3 | 68 |
| | XIAO, Bowen | F | -3 | 68 |
| | SHE, Zihan | F | -3 | 68 |
| VAN DRIEL, Darius | F | -3 | 68 | |
| | CAO, Senshou | F | -3 | 68 |
| | BALDWIN, Matthew | F | -3 | 68 |
| | HILLIER, Daniel | F | -3 | 68 |
| | LINDBERG, Mikael | F | -3 | 68 |
| | DE LEO, Gregorio | F | -3 | 68 |
| | REPETTO TAYLOR, Rocco | F | -3 | 68 |
| | JIN, Zihao | F | -3 | 68 |
| 34 | HIDALGO, Angel | F | -2 | 69 |
| | CHACARRA, Eugenio | F | -2 | 69 |
| | GARCIA, Sebastian | F | -2 | 69 |
| | LANGASQUE, Romain | F | -2 | 69 |
| | STEINLECHNER, Maximilian | 17 | -2 | - |
| | YEUNG, Motin | F | -2 | 69 |
| | ZHENG, Sampson Yunhe | F | -2 | 69 |
| | NA, Kevin | F | -2 | 69 |
| | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | F | -2 | 69 |
| | KOBORI, Kazuma | F | -2 | 69 |
| | WU, Ashun | F | -2 | 69 |
| | GUILLAMOUNDEGUY, Oihan | F | -2 | 69 |
| | CHEN, Zihao | F | -2 | 69 |
| | KIMSEY, Nathan | F | -2 | 69 |
| 48 | LAM, Isaac | F | -1 | 70 |
| | BERGSTROM, Albin | F | -1 | 70 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | F | -1 | 70 |
| SHARMA, Shubhankar | F | -1 | 70 | |
| | HOSHINO, Rikuya | F | -1 | 70 |
| | NAIDOO, Dylan | F | -1 | 70 |
| | QUAYLE, Anthony | F | -1 | 70 |
| | LEVY, Alexander | F | -1 | 70 |
| | PEAKE, Ryan | F | -1 | 70 |
| | KUANG, Yang | F | -1 | 70 |
| | ADAM, Cameron | F | -1 | 70 |
| | WANG, Charles | F | -1 | 70 |
| | ROZNER, Antoine | F | -1 | 70 |
| | CELLI, Filippo | F | -1 | 70 |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | F | -1 | 70 |
| | BERRY, Joshua | F | -1 | 70 |
| 64 | PENG, Bo | F | Par | 71 |
| | ARNAUS, Adri | F | Par | 71 |
| | SUI, Justin | F | Par | 71 |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | F | Par | 71 |
| | VON DELLINGSHAUSEN, Nicolai | F | Par | 71 |
| | SCHOTT, Freddy | F | Par | 71 |
| | CLEMENTS, Todd | F | Par | 71 |
| | LIU, Yan Wei | F | Par | 71 |
| | KATSURAGAWA, Yuto | F | Par | 71 |
| | MORY, Félix | F | Par | 71 |
| | WALKER, Euan | F | Par | 71 |
| | JAMIESON, Scott | F | Par | 71 |
| | UM, Junghyun | 17 | Par | - |
| | FISHER, Ross | F | Par | 71 |
| | YOUNG, Daniel | F | Par | 71 |
| | VEERMAN, Johannes | F | Par | 71 |
| | WANG, Haoyi (AM) | F | Par | 71 |
| | MANASSERO, Matteo | F | Par | 71 |
| | LAWRENCE, Thriston | F | Par | 71 |
| 83 | GO, Lloyd Jefferson | F | +1 | 72 |
| | MIGLIOZZI, Guido | F | +1 | 72 |
| | BAI, Zhengkai | F | +1 | 72 |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | F | +1 | 72 |
| | DENG, Tao | F | +1 | 72 |
| | DANTORP, Jens | F | +1 | 72 |
| | LACROIX, Frederic | F | +1 | 72 |
| | APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | F | +1 | 72 |
| | FANG, Yu | F | +1 | 72 |
| | SCHMIDT, Ben | F | +1 | 72 |
| | KINHULT, Marcus | F | +1 | 72 |
| 94 | WANG, Zi | F | +2 | 73 |
| | WU, Di | F | +2 | 73 |
| | FAN, Jicheng | F | +2 | 73 |
| | LINDELL, Oliver | F | +2 | 73 |
| | HAN, Jin (AM) | F | +2 | 73 |
| | LEE, Junseo | F | +2 | 73 |
| | WINTHER, Jeff | F | +2 | 73 |
| LIU, Enhua | F | +2 | 73 | |
| | TOWNSEND, Hugo | F | +2 | 73 |
| | SENIOR, Jack | F | +2 | 73 |
| | ELVIRA, Nacho | F | +2 | 73 |
| | JONSSON, Tobias | F | +2 | 73 |
| | HAK, Shun Yat | F | +2 | 73 |
| 107 | VINCENT, Jake | F | +3 | 74 |
| | MCKINNEY, Connor | F | +3 | 74 |
| | JIN, Bo | F | +3 | 74 |
| | SÖDERBERG, Sebastian | F | +3 | 74 |
| | CHENG, Xirong | F | +3 | 74 |
| | SHEN, Jeffrey (AM) | F | +3 | 74 |
| | JOHNSTON, Ryggs | F | +3 | 74 |
| | ZHANG, Yuze | F | +3 | 74 |
| | LAGERGREN, Joakim | F | +3 | 74 |
| | MAZZOLI, Stefano | F | +3 | 74 |
| | LEE, Jui-Shen | F | +3 | 74 |
| | MIZUNO, Shinichi | F | +3 | 74 |
| | KO, Jeong weon | F | +3 | 74 |
| | HOLLICK, Michael | F | +3 | 74 |
| | RAVETTO, David | F | +3 | 74 |
| | LUO, Xuewen | F | +3 | 74 |
| | STERNE, Richard | F | +3 | 74 |
| 124 | PARATORE, Renato | F | +4 | 75 |
| | DEBOVE, Quentin | F | +4 | 75 |
| | BURTON, Jeffrey | F | +4 | 75 |
| | CHEN, Guxin | F | +4 | 75 |
| | DAFFUE, MJ | F | +4 | 75 |
| | VAN TONDER, Daniel | F | +4 | 75 |
| | MICHELUZZI, David | F | +4 | 75 |
| | RAMSAY, Richie | F | +4 | 75 |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | F | +4 | 75 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | F | +4 | 75 |
| 134 | CAMPILLO, Jorge | F | +5 | 76 |
| | YE, Wo-cheng | F | +5 | 76 |
| | JORDANSSON, Felix | 17 | +5 | - |
| | WU, Tuxuan | 17 | +5 | - |
| | NØRGAARD, Niklas | F | +5 | 76 |
| | LU, Shawn | F | +5 | 76 |
| | GUMBERG, Jordan | F | +5 | 76 |
| | LI, Mengyang (AM) | F | +5 | 76 |
| | WU, Hongfu | F | +5 | 76 |
| | XUE, Han | F | +5 | 76 |
| | HUANG, Zijie | F | +5 | 76 |
| 145 | OZEKI, Kakeru | F | +6 | 77 |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | F | +6 | 77 |
| 147 | TONG, Yang | F | +7 | 78 |
| | TING, Malcolm | F | +7 | 78 |
| | HAYASHI, Takumi | F | +7 | 78 |
| | TANG, Haizhao | F | +7 | 78 |
| 151 | TING, Lawrence | F | +8 | 79 |
| | SIEM, Marcel | F | +8 | 79 |
| 153 | SANDHU, Yuvraj | F | +9 | 80 |
| 154 | SYME, Connor | F | +10 | 81 |
| 155 | ZHANG, Xinjun | F | +12 | 83 |
| RETD | LI, Linqiang | - | +1 | - |
Simon Bale
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