Qualifiers ready for Volvo China Open glory

Chen, a 21-year-old who finished equal second at the 2023 Volvo China Open on the Asian Tour, started strongly with three consecutive birdies beginning at the 208-yard second hole. Following bogeys at holes six and 12, he picked up another stroke at the 420-yard 15th hole. After a double-bogey six at the 375-yard penultimate hole, he quickly recovered to sink a 12-foot birdie putt at the last.

"There were plenty of birdies today. On this course, it's impossible to avoid mistakes so you need to make up for them with birdies. I'm really happy about the number of birdies I made," said Chen. "To be honest, I checked the leaderboard multiple times during the round, like on the 15th hole.

I'm very satisfied with this finish. Honestly, I just came here to play two days of golf and didn't expect to win the qualifier or anything like that."

Yang, who is coming off two surgeries, one of which was for appendicitis, said he hadn't planned on playing in the qualifier but had to after he was injured last year. He called the Volvo China Open the biggest tournament a Chinese could participate in on home soil.

"Earning this qualification feels truly honorable," said the 27-year-old. "I adopted a steady strategy and tried to lay up on all the par-five holes. My short game was really on point today, saving me in many crucial moments. The highlights of my round today weren't the birdies but rather a couple of par saves, including the one on the second hole."