2006 China Tour Zhuhai Leg - Round 3: Tropical storm Chanchu is third round winner

Tropical Storm Chanchu announced its impending arrival on the Guangdong coastline by turning the Omega China Tour Zhuhai Leg on its head. For the first time, and possibly the last, Li Chao shot a six-over-par 78 and managed to extend his lead from three to five shots.

So strong was the wind that Li's third-round score was not bettered by any of the players who teed off after 9-15 in the morning.

"After this round I understand when and how to take a conservative approach. Most of the players did not play very well, because of the wind. A round like this taught us all not to be to over aggressive at the wrong time," the 26-year-old revealed

"During the round I felt it was a pity that I didn't get any birdies; I was a bit disappointed. But when I saw how other players had scored and compared mine with the other the leading groups, I felt better. A 78 isn't that bad. This is probably the most difficult rounds of all the China Tour's tournaments. It really was torture."

Li's round, which leaves him five over par for the tournament was particularly impressive because on a day when whitecaps were being whipped up on the Golden Gulf Golf Club's lakes, he avoided anything worse than bogey.

The veteran Jimmy Qi Zengfa moved up to second place despite a 79, as Yuan Hao posted the sixth-worst score of the day. The 25-year-old showed his relative lack of experience and was punished for playing too high a ball flight and taking too aggressive an approach. Jimmy Qi, a former junior international rower, drew on his experiences from a sport that never actually gets exposed to the elements.

"I was trained to play ping pong when I was younger, my talent for getting the balls spinning comes from ping pong. When I first started practicing I always imagined the club head as ping pong pad. That's where I got my ideas for playing golf," the 39-year-old explained.

"I had most of my techniques tested out there. I'm playing better; maybe it's mainly because I have more experience than the younger players. This course tests the players really well, especially how to get spin, and how play from the edge of the greens.¡"

Experience showed as Zhang Lianwei matched Li Chao's score to move up into third place, while Shang Lei, who is a former classmate of Li's, was also able to card a 78 and moved into a tie for fourth with the day's big success story.

That was Zheng Wengen, China's first professional, who had struggled with back pain for two days before finally being convinced by Omega China Tour officials to loosen his faith in traditional Chinese medicine and seek treatment with the Tour's physiotherapist. The result was, considering he still had to battle the wind on the back nine, arguably the best round of the week - a one-under par 71 that catapulted him up 33 places.

"After trying the therapy the night before, I felt much better before I teed off. I found I could hit the ball solidly and I could turn my lower back. It feels great!" he declared.

"All I was doing was trying to save par all day today, and I did! On top of that that I had four birdies. I¡¯m going back for more therapy again and hopefully I can do even better in the final round."

That final round, assuming that Chanchu gives its permission for it to take place, is likely to be a war of attrition. Li Chao, bidding for his third victory in only the Omega China Tour's sixth event, is ready to grind his way to another trophy.

"If I take an aggressive strategy maybe I will shoot 86 or 96, if I'm conservative maybe 76," he said.

"The key is to reduce mistakes. In weather like this, the point is not how many birdies you get it is how many pars."

Omega China Tour - Zhuhai Leg

Leading Third scores (Par 72)

221: Li Chao 69-74-78
226: Qi Zengfa 74-73-79
227: Zhang Lianwei 75-74-78
230: Shang Lei 74-78-78, Zheng Wengen 79-80-71
231: Chen Yu 83-76-72, Wu Weihuang 73-78-80
232: Liu Jian 74-75-83, Yuan Hao 72-74-86, Wu Zujin 80-78-74
233: Qiu Zhifeng 72-79-82, Zheng Shaoguang 77-78-78
234: Cui Xiaolong 81-80-73, Liu Qiang 75-78-81, Wang Huiqiang 78-80-76, Yuan Tian 76-82-76
235: Huang Yonghuan 79-76-80, Liu Xin 76-76-83, Yang Shengqin 77-79-79
237: Tan Yongzong 75-80-82, Xiao Zhijin 75-79-83,

May 13, 2006

Bookmark page with:

Return to Top of Page