Huang qualifies for return in Nantong

Huang Tao from Chinese Taipei won the open qualifying tournament at Nantong Yangtze River Golf Club on Monday, earning a spot in this week's Nantong Championship, the sixth tournament of the PGA Tour Series-China season.

Huang birdied the 18th hole to break a tie with India's Lakshya Dev Mudgil, American Lexus Keoninh and Chinese mainland amateur Chen Yunliang.

That trio also qualified, along with Americans Harry Boyd and Kevin Chen, Japan's Shigeru Nakagawa, Chinese mainland's Jiang Wei and Cao Xiang and England's Leon Fricker.

Cao won a playoff against compatriots Wang Yanzhang and Wu Haochuan and South Korea's Woopyoung Cho for the final qualifying spot after they finished in a four-way tie for the final slot.

For Huang, Nantong will mark his season debut after playing 23 tournaments on the PGA Tour Series-China the past two seasons.

Huang had two birdies and three bogeys on a windy afternoon of qualifying.

"Today's wind was a bit strong, which added to the difficulties of the competition," he said. "But I putted well today, and that allowed me to achieve the good result."

Huang has two top-10 finishes on the tour, both coming in 2016. A year ago he made 13 starts but made only one cut－a tie for 38th at the Suzhou Championship.

Mudgil and Keoninh will also be making their first appearances on PGA Tour Series-China. Mudgil played on the Asian Development Tour in 2017 and 2018.