Volvo China Open 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Hennie Otto finds himself top of the pile on Day 1 at the Volvo China Open, with a sublime 63 giving the South African a two-shot lead.

Seven birdies and an eagle made up Otto’s stunning nine-under par round, as he blazed his was around the Topwin Golf and Country Club on Thursday morning. Closest to him is Bernd Wiesberger, who made his way round in 65.

Here’s a look at the leaderboard following a day of low scoring in Beijing and a more detailed account of how the action panned out as this competition kickstarted. 

Position	Player	Overall	Day 1 Score
1.	Hennie Otto	-9	63
2.	Bernd Wiesberger	-7	65
T3.	Roope Kakko	-6	66
T3.	Fabrizio Zanotti	-6	66
T3.	Peter Hanson	-6	66
T3.	Gregory Bourdy	-6	66
T7.	Borja Virto Astudillo	-5	67
T7.	Alex Noren	-5	67
T7.	Joost Luiten	-5	67

For the full leaderboard, check out the European Tour website.

Otto Sets Searing Pace in Beijing

An early start for Otto gave him the chance to post a stunning round, one that will be extremely difficult for any player to beat this week.

Not only did the South African play sensibly to preserve a bogey-free scorecard, he was ruthless when lining up the succession of excellent putting chances he had conjured for himself. Starting on the 10th tee, the first nine was solid enough, with birdies coming at 11, 15 and 17. But it was in the second half of his round that Otto kicked up a gear.

WANG ZHAO/Getty Images

Consecutive birdies at the par three second and the difficult third put him on five under, before a shot was picked up at both five and seven. 

To round off a stunning opening day, the world No. 392 rattled in this sensational chip for an eagle at the eighth, per the European Tour Twitter feed:

It gave Otto a comfortable buffer for much of the day, although there are some classy players still within touching distance, including the top-ranked player in the field in Wiesberger.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The Austrian has a reputation for blowing hot and cold at times, but it was evident by the consecutive birdies he notched at three and four that he was in the groove. He went on to pick up six more birdies for the day, with a dropped shot at 14 the only blemish on the world No. 43’s card.

Between 11 and 13 Wiesberger bagged three in a row. Here’s him knocking in a fine putt for the final one of the sequence:

With the event sponsored by Volvo, there was a XC90 up for grabs for any player who could bag a hole-in-one at the 16th. And Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg, who finished the day three-under, obliged, getting his 201-yard approach absolutely perfect with a seven iron.

Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

“I was discussing up on the tee with my caddy what club to hit and how to hit it and I had to give in," he said, per the European Tour website. “I was not convinced but he convinced me how I should hit it and I hit it just like that and it ended up perfectly. I'll probably give him two of the tyres or something as a thank you!”

Here’s the clip of the wonderful shot, in which it’s clear Karlberg doesn’t actually realise he’s bagged an ace until he gets a lot closer to the hole:

Otto hasn’t registered a top 10 finish on the European Tour since 2014, when he won the Italian Open, making this round all the more spectacular. But it’s a statistic that will give the chasing pack hope heading into the final three days and a precedent for how to attack this course.

Wiesberger is certainly one to watch on Day 2. The Austrian showed signs on Thursday that his game is in excellent shape, and provided he can refine a few rough edges that were on show in his first round, he will be the man to beat this weekend.