Li delights home crowd in Shanghai
SHANGHAI – Li Haotong has come a long way in the HSBC Champions, which he realized before hitting any of his 64 shots Thursday that carried him to a one-shot lead.
Standing next to him on the tee was Phil Mickelson, a longtime golf idol. Li was part of the HSBC junior program when this World Golf Championships event began in 2009, and he posed for a photo with Lefty.
“My idol then, and my friend now,” Li said. “Kind of fun.”
He found all sorts of enjoyment on as perfect a day as can be found at Sheshan International, with warm weather and surprisingly calm conditions. Li felt intimidated the first time he played this event when he was 18, and especially as a 20-year-old in 2015 when he was one shot out of the lead going into the final round.
He enjoyed every minute Thursday, and he gave the home crowd plenty to cheer with his 8-under-par 64.
Li opened with two birdies and finished the back nine with two birdies. And after his lone mistake on the par-4 first hole, he responded with a 4-iron that set up eagle and led to the loudest cheer of a calm afternoon.
“Obviously, it would be great joy for Chinese golfers and Chinese golf fans to have a Chinese player winning a WGCHSBC Champions here in China,” Li said. “But for the next three days, anything could happen.”
He was one shot ahead of Victor Perez of France.
Among those two shots behind were defending champion Xander Schauffele and Adam Scott, who both stumbled at the end.
Scott hit a thin shot out of a fairway bunker on No. 9 into the water right of the green and had to get up-and-down to salvage bogey for his 66. Schauffele, sick most of the week and still hoarse, had a wedge to the par-5 eighth and stayed on the upper shelf, leading to a three-putt bogey in his round of 66. Sungjae Im and Matt Fitzpatrick also were at 66.
Rory McIlroy had three bogeys on the back nine and was going nowhere at even par until he ran off four straight birdies on the front and got in the mix quick with a 67.
The HSBC Champions is the final event before Tiger Woods and Ernie Els make their wild-card picks for the Presidents Cup.
❚ Bermuda Championship: Scottie Scheffler closed with a bogey for a 9under 62 and a one-stroke lead Thursday after the first round of the PGA Tour’s inaugural Bermuda Championship in Southampton.
Scheffler played his opening nine at Port Royal Golf Club in 6-under 29, making an eagle on the par-5 17th. He added birdies on Nos. 2, 4, 6 and 7 before dropping the stroke on the par-4 ninth.
The 23-year-old former University of Texas player won twice last year on the Korn Ferry Tour and earned fully exempt PGA Tour status by leading the Korn Ferry’s combined points list for the regular season and finals. He tied for seventh in September at The Greenbrier in his first start of the season and made the cuts in his other three events.
Wes Roach was second. Rob Oppenheim, Bo Hoag and Russell Knox shot 64.