Liao in pole position to win maiden Omega Order of Merit crown
Liao Guiming is in pole position to secure his first Omega Order of Merit title after two-time winner Li Chao failed to make up significant ground at the RMB800,000 Tianjin Championship, the circuit’s last event before the season-ending Omega Championship in Beijing from October 9-12.
Liao, 31, has won RMB360,750 in seven events, while Li, who won March’s Dell Championship in Xiamen, is in third place on RMB215,500.
Both are confirmed to play in next week’s Omega Championship at Beijing Longxi Hotspring Golf Club while second-placed Zhang Lianwei, who has RMB330,000, is set to compete in the Hero Honda Indian Open on the Asian Tour.
Li, 28, failed to make the most of his opportunity in Tianjin, where Liao struggled to make an impact and ended in joint 21st position.
In contrast, Li shared fourth place heading into the final day, but a bloodied hand and three early bogeys knocked him off his rhythm and he closed with a 79 to finish joint eighth with RMB14,750. Chinese Taipei’s Tsai Chi-huang won the event, picking up a cheque for RMB150,000.
Li effectively has to win the Omega Championship to stand any chance of winning his third Omega Order of Merit title in four seasons, following successes in 2005 and 2007. Zhang, 43, is the only other winner, beating Li to win the money list title in 2006.
Zhang led this year’s Omega Order of Merit for much of the year following victory in the season-opening Guangzhou Championship and runner-up finishes in the Dell Championship in Xiamen and the Sofitel Golf Championship in Nanjing.
Earlier this month, Liao overhauled him following his third successive top-two finish. After finishing joint runner-up in May’s Shanghai Championship, he beat Zhang in a play-off for the Sofitel title the following week and then finished runner-up to Tsai in this month’s Luxehills Golf Championship in Chengdu.
Both Li and Zhang missed the Luxehills event to compete in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland, where Zhang finished tied-44th after a closing 69 and Li missed the cut by one in his debut appearance in Europe.
The Fujian-born Liao, who lives with his wife and young son in Nanning in Guangxi province, turned pro in 2003 after representing China in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. He had posted 10 top-10 finishes on the Omega China Tour before his breakthrough victory in Nanjing.
The 2008 Omega China Tour has crowned six different champions in its first seven events, with Liao, Zhang, Li and Chinese Taipei invites Tsai (twice), Hsu Mong-nan and Lu Wen-teh all picking up silverware. As tournament invites, the Chinese Taipei players do not feature on the Omega Order of Merit.
Liao Guiming is in pole position to secure his first Omega Order of Merit title after two-time winner Li Chao failed to make up significant ground at the RMB800,000 
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