China’s Li edges ahead of LIV golfers at Macau Asian Tour event

China’s Li Haotong birdied his final hole Thursday to card a seven-under par 63 and edge ahead of a packed leaderboard at the Asian Tour’s International Series Macau. Li, a multiple winner on the European Tour, had just one blemish, a bogey five at the 10th hole.

“I played really solid and left myself a lot of birdie chances,” said Li, who once rose as high as world number 32, in 2018. He has struggled since last winning at the BMW International in 2022 and admitted that the round had hugely exceeded his expectations. “Not even close. I just tried to play steady so I’m really happy to have this score today,” Li said. One back on six-under par are LIV Golf League pair Pat Perez and Mito Pereira, plus Japan’s Yuta Sugiura, after they all shot 64 at the Macau Golf and Country Club’s par-70 layout.

“It was nice, I hit it really good,” said Perez after rolling in seven birdies against just one dropped shot, on the par-four eighth. “Wind was blowing and there were some tight tee shots out there. I screwed up one hole, but other than that I played great,” added the 48-yearold. Pereira is playing his fourth week in a row, with two Asian Tour events on either side of LIV commitments, as the Chilean chases ranking points to secure one of his country’s two spots in the Paris Olympics.

“To be honest, I’m really tired and ready to go home,” said the 28-year-old Pereira, who currently sits 41st on the Olympic Golf Rankings with the top 60 qualifying for Paris. “This is the last push this week and I’m trying to really give my best.” Saudi-bankrolled LIV Golf has invested $300 million in the Asian Tour—which unlike LIV receives world-ranking points—leading to the creation of the International Series of 10 enhanced prize money events.