2005 China Tour Hainan Leg - Round 3: Li wins Leg and Order of Merit in play-off thriller

Li Chao claimed his second trophy of the China Tour's inaugural season, winning a dramatic play-off with a birdie on the third extra hole to beat Ryan Huang Yonghuan after a pulsating final round.

Li and Huang, who both started the day on four under par, two shots behind overnight leader Liu Qiang, both shot six under par rounds of 66. The 25 year old Li could have won on the 18th, but couldn't hole out from around 15 feet. He missed from a similar distance when the pair came down the 18th for the first time in the play-off, then on the second try it was Huang who watched what would have been a winning birdie putt lip out. Finally at the third attempt Li, who launched the China Tour by winning the Beijing Leg in commanding fashion, bookmarked the season in the most dramatic way possible.

"I have already forgotten how many times we played extra holes. The first two times I thought I had a fair chance. It was the final time that I thought my chances were slim!" Li exclaimed.

"I didn't put enough weight on the first two, so I put a bit more on the final putt."

A play-off had looked as likely as snow among the coconuts of the Kangle Garden course as Li charged into an early lead, setting a new 9 hole record for the China Tour with five birdies and no bogeys by the turn. But Li missed a short putt on 10 as Huang birdied and then the 28 year old from Guangdong eagled the par 5 11th, holing from 35 feet, to draw level and set up a ding-dong battle all the way to the last.

"I putted great all day; every single putt was exactly what I wanted, but I just couldn't hole one in the play-off," said Huang, whose given name means 'forever happy', with a grin, despite having spent his amateur career finishing in a similar position, principally behind Liang Wenchong, and having never done better than second professionally either.

"I'm happy," he explained. "It was a good game. We both played very well. Li played very well on the front nine - he only needed seven putts in the first seven holes - and I came back on the back nine. I feel good, because I got this chance to prove myself; to prove that I have very big chance to win and to prove I'm very close to being a winner."

With the win in the final event of the year Li Chao, who finished second behind Liang Wenchong in last month's Zhuhai Leg, emphatically secured the Order of Merit Trophy and put a massive exclamation mark to his breakthrough year, just in time for his home club Shanghai Sheshan to host next week's HSBC Champions Tournament.

"Becoming the top player on the Order of Merit, makes me very happy. I have been practicing very hard this year, so I'm very happy it has all paid off," he explained, before repeating the words he used after finishing between the two established stars Liang and Zhang Lianwei in Zhuhai.

"The revolution has not yet succeeded. Comrades you must carry on," he said with a smile.
"It's like school: we have to improve step by step. Like going to primary school first, then high school, then college. We need to play in our China Tour first, then the Asian Tour, then bigger events. I hope the China Tour can become a world class golf tour in the future, then we won't need to go abroad to play, we can just play at home."

Huang's second place finish guaranteed him a place among the nine Chinese players granted a spot in next week's showdown in Shanghai.

Overnight leader Liu Qiang battled all day to stay on the leader board, finishing third, five shots off the lead, after shooting a one-over-par 73.

"I'm happy with the third-place finish. It's my best performance on the China Tour," Liu said.

China Tour - Hainan Leg

Third and Final Round scores (Par 72)

Li Chao won on third hole of sudden-death play-off

206 - Huang Yonghuan 72-68-66, Li Chao 70-70-66
211 - Liu Qiang 68-70-73
212 - Xia Zhengrong 74-71-67
213 - Yuan Hao 72-70-71
214 - Tan Yongzong 70-74-70
215 - Zheng Wengen 75-72-68
216 - Liu Guojie 76-71-69, Shang Lei 76-73- 67, Zhang Chengwei 74-71-71
217 - Fu Tai 75-72-70, Qiu Zhifeng 70-73-74
218 - Liao Guiming 73-75-70, Xing Xiaoxuan 74-72-72
219 - Gao Lei 74-73-72, Lai Yuanlang 77-70-72, Wu Weihuang 79-69-71
220 - Deng Yonghong 75-70-74, Gu Shutao 74-73-73, Huang Mingjie 76-76-68, Wu Xujun 75-73-72, Xiao Zhijin 71-76-73, Zheng Shaoguang 74-74-72
221 - Cheng Fai 73-79-69, Xu Qin 79-72-70
222 - Chen Xiaoma 78-73-71, Fu Xin 76-76-70,
223 - Chen Yu 78-72-73, He Yongjian 76-75-71, Liu Anda 76-75-72, Meng Qingpeng 76-75-72, Tan Guohua 76-73-74, Tang Jinchang 74-75-74, Xiao Jiancheng 76-74-73

November 5, 2005

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