The Volvo China Open is a men's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament that has been held annually in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

since 1995. The event is organised by the China Golf Association and has been co-sanctioned by the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

since 2004. It has also featured as part of the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...

, the

OneAsia Tour The OneAsia Tour was a men's professional golf tour based in the Asia-Pacific region. The tour was founded in 2009 as a joint venture between the PGA Tour of Australasia, the China Golf Association, the Korean Golf Association and the Korean PGA. T ...

, the

China Tour The China Tour is a China-based men's professional golf tours, professional golf tour run by the China Golf Association. An earlier tour, the Omega China Tour, ran from 2004 to 2009. From 2014 to 2016 the tour was organised with the PGA Tour Chin ...

and the

Asia Golf Circuit The Asia Golf Circuit was the principal men's professional golf tour in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s through to the mid-late 1990s. The tour was founded in 1961 as the Far East Circuit. The first series of five tournaments was held in 1962 ...

History

The first event was played in 1995 as the China Open and featured on the

Raúl Fretes Raúl Fretes (born 13 September 1965) is a Paraguayan professional golfer. Fretes was born in Asunción and turned pro in 1990. He won the South American Tour Order of Merit in 1994 and 1998. He won the 2005 World Golf Teachers Cup. Fretes pl ...

was the inaugural champion. The following year the event moved to the

's schedule and continued to through 2008. The event joined the

in 2004.

Stephen Dodd Stephen Christopher Dodd (born 15 July 1966) is a Welsh professional golfer who after a moderate career, unexpectedly won two events on the European Tour in the 2005 season at the age of 38 and won a third time in 2006. He also won the 2005 W ...

won the first edition on the European Tour. Changes occurred in 2009 with the announcement of the

, a new

golf tour Professional golf tours are the means by which otherwise unconnected professional golf tournaments are organised into a regular schedule. There are separate tours for men and women; most are based in a specific geographical region, although some to ...

set up by the China Golf Association in partnership with the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

, the

Japan Golf Tour The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after th ...

, the Korean PGA and the Korean Golf Association. Having been involved in the early stages, the Asian Tour withdrew from the OneAsia Tour. As a result, four events, the Volvo China Open,

Pine Valley Beijing Open The Pine Valley Beijing Open was a men's professional golf tournament, played in 2007 and 2008. It was held at Pine Valley Golf Club in Beijing, China. Originally an event on the Asian Tour, and co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour in 2008, it bec ...

, Korea Open and Midea China Classic were removed from the schedule and subsequently became the founding events of the new tour. In addition, the Asian Tour stated that they would not allow their members to play in those events unless already qualified via membership of the European Tour, promising stiff penalties for those that ignored this ruling. In 2011,

Nicolas Colsaerts Nicolas Colsaerts (born 14 November 1982) is a Belgian professional golfer currently playing on the European Tour and previously on the PGA Tour. Early life Colsaerts, also known as "The Belgian Bomber", was born in Schaerbeek, Belgium. Coming ...

broke the tournament scoring record, shooting an aggregate of 264 (24 under par). He won by four shots.

Wu Ashun Wu Ashun (born 22 June 1985) is a Chinese professional golfer. He has won four times on the European Tour and twice on the Japan Golf Tour. Professional career Wu played on the Asian Tour in 2008 and 2009. His best finish was T-4 at the 2009 Sing ...

won the 2015 event by one shot over David Howell. He made history as he became the first Chinese player to win a European Tour event on home soil.

Li Haotong Li Haotong (, born 3 August 1995) is a Chinese professional golfer. Career Li turned professional in 2011 and played his early pro career on the OneAsia Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia. He also competed in a few European Tour events. Li qua ...

won the event the following year, shooting a final-round 64 to win by three shots. He also became the second successive winner on home soil. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the 2020 and 2021 events were not sanctioned by the European Tour and proceeded as sole-sanctioned

events.

Zhang Jin Zhang Jin may refer to: *Zhang Jin (Three Kingdoms), warlord of the Three Kingdoms era *, Yuan dynasty government minister *Zhang Jin (physical chemist) (born 1969), Chinese physical chemist *Zhang Jin (badminton) (born 1972), Chinese badminton pla ...

won the 2021 event by making birdie at the final hole to beat

by one shot. The 2022 event was scheduled to take place at the end of April on the European Tour, however it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was eventually not played at all in 2022 and was not scheduled on the

2023 European Tour The 2023 European Tour, titled as the 2023 DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, is the 52nd season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972. It is the second season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement wi ...

season.

Venues

The following venues have been used since the founding of the Volvo China Open in 1995.

Winners

Notes

References

External links

*
Coverage on the European Tour's official siteCoverage on the Asian Tour's official site
{{Coord, 22.33, 114.06, type:event, display=title Former European Tour events Former Asian Tour events Golf tournaments in China Recurring sporting events established in 1995 1995 establishments in China