Li Haotong
Personal information
Born (1995-08-03) 3 August 1995 (age 28)
Miluo City, Hunan, China
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st)
Sporting nationality China
Career
Turned professional2011
Current tour(s)European Tour
Former tour(s)Web.com Tour
PGA Tour China
Professional wins7
Highest ranking32 (28 January 2018)[1]
(as of 24 March 2024)
Number of wins by tour
European Tour3
Other4
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT32: 2018
PGA ChampionshipT17: 2020
U.S. OpenT16: 2018
The Open Championship3rd: 2017
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour China
Order of Merit winner		2014
Li Haotong
Chinese李昊桐

Li Haotong (Chinese: 李昊桐, 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 qualified for the new PGA Tour China in 2014, where he won three times, led the tour's Order of Merit to earn full Web.com Tour status, and was the first Chinese member of the Web.com Tour. He finished 11th in his first Web.com Tour event, the Panama Claro Championship. He went on to maintain his 2016 Web.com Tour card by finishing 49th on the money list.[2]

During the middle of his Web.com Tour season, Li traveled back to China and entered the inaugural Shenzhen International, an event added to the European Tour for 2015. Following a first-round 71 and a second-round 73, Li managed a third-round of seven-under-par 65, alongside two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, who shot a 74. At that stage it was the joint lowest round of the tournament alongside Spain's Pablo Larrazábal.[3] Speaking of the experience of playing alongside Watson, Li said, "He's pretty nice guy, so I very much enjoyed playing with him. I hit a lot of greens and made a lot of birdies. I was pretty lucky also." Watson praised the youngster, saying, "He's hitting the ball really well. He's making a lot of putts. The key around a golf course is a lot of putts and he made a lot of putts today."[4] On day four of the tournament, Li shot a round of 67, but had to watch on TV to see if he would become the first Chinese player to win a European Tour event on home soil. Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who had led for the majority of the tournament, managed to draw level at 12-under-par and force a playoff, which he won by one shot.[5]

The next week, Li finished 6th at the Volvo China Open before returning to the Web.com Tour. At the conclusion of the Web.com Tour year, Li played five consecutive events in Asia, including the 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai. As one of six Chinese invites, he finished T7, the highest ever PGA Tour finish for a Chinese-born player.

On 1 May 2016, he captured his first European Tour victory by winning the Volvo China Open.

In 2017, Li mainly played on the European Tour, and also had some breakthrough at the majors. He qualified for the U.S. Open via the European sectional in England. He made the cut, but finished in solo-68th after consecutive rounds of 80's during the weekend. At the Open Championship, Li shot a final round of 63, and finished third-place alone. This result broke the records set by any Chinese players at the majors. Previously, Liang Wenchong shot 64 in the third round of the 2010 PGA Championship, where he finished eighth. Li's third-place finish at the Open Championship also qualified him for the 2018 Masters Tournament.

In January 2018, Li earned his second victory on the European Tour, at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. In the process, he set a new tournament record.[6] On 4 November 2018, Li lost a playoff to Justin Rose at the Turkish Airlines Open, a Rolex Series event.

In December 2019, Li played on the International team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. Li went 0–2–0 and including a loss in his Sunday singles match against Dustin Johnson.[7]

At the 2020 PGA Championship, Li held the 36-hole lead by two strokes at 8 under par after opening rounds of 67-65. He shot 73-69 on the weekend and finished T17.[8]

In June 2022, Li won the BMW International Open beating Thomas Pieters in a playoff. He holed a 50-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole. It was Li's first win in over four years.[9]

Professional wins (7)

European Tour wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 1 May 2016 Volvo China Open1 −22 (69-67-66-64=266) 3 strokes Chile Felipe Aguilar
2 28 Jan 2018 Omega Dubai Desert Classic −23 (66-66-64-69=265) 1 stroke Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy
3 26 Jun 2022 BMW International Open −22 (62-67-67-70=266) Playoff Belgium Thomas Pieters

1Co-sanctioned by the OneAsia Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2015 Shenzhen International Thailand Kiradech Aphibarnrat Lost to birdie on first extra hole
2 2018 Turkish Airlines Open England Justin Rose Lost to par on first extra hole
3 2022 BMW International Open Belgium Thomas Pieters Won with birdie on first extra hole

OneAsia Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 12 Oct 2014 Nanshan China Masters −9 (68-65-72-70=275) 4 strokes Australia Jun Seok Lee
2 1 May 2016 Volvo China Open1 −22 (69-67-66-64=266) 3 strokes Chile Felipe Aguilar

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

PGA Tour China wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 28 Sep 2014 Jianye Tianzhu Henan Open −13 (72-67-68-68=275) 8 strokes Taiwan Chan Shih-chang
2 23 Nov 2014 Hainan Open −10 (71-68-69-70=278) 6 strokes South Korea Kim Do-hyun
3 30 Nov 2014 CTS Tycoon Championship −11 (65-70-73-69=277) 5 strokes Australia Raymond Beaufils

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament 2017 2018
Masters Tournament T32
U.S. Open 68 T16
The Open Championship 3 T39
PGA Championship CUT WD
Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022
Masters Tournament T43
PGA Championship T36 T17
U.S. Open T52
The Open Championship CUT NT CUT CUT
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 2
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 3
The Open Championship 0 0 1 1 1 1 5 2
Totals 0 0 1 1 1 3 14 9

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 2018 2019
The Players Championship CUT CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

Tournament 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Championship 63 T19
Match Play T59 R16 NT1
Invitational T39 T20 T75
Champions T39 T35 T7 T63 T50 T11 T24 NT1

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16 = Round in which player lost in match play
NT = No tournament
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Professional

References

  1. ^ "Week 04 2018 Ending 28 Jan 2018" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Growing into his game". PGA Tour. 14 October 2015. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Day 3 in Numbers: Shenzhen International". PGA European Tour. 18 April 2015. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  4. ^ "Li sets the standard". PGA European Tour. 18 April 2015. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Aphibarnrat pips Li in play-off". PGA European Tour. 19 April 2015. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  6. ^ "Rory McIlroy blows lead as Haotong Li claims Dubai Desert Classic". ESPN. PA Sport. 28 January 2018. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  7. ^ Dusek, David (15 December 2019). "Presidents Cup grades: Captains, Royal Melbourne score high marks". Golfweek. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  8. ^ Young, Ryan (8 August 2020). "Haotong Li kept practicing for hours after grabbing the lead at PGA Championship". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  9. ^ "BMW International Open: Haotong Li wins title in Munich after dramatic play-off with Thomas Pieters". Sky Sports. 26 June 2022. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022.

External links

International Presidents Cup team – 2019
Categories