Hao Tang Li

Player Highlights

In 2016, the year golf returns to the Olympics after more than a century, signs of the game’s growing reach are everywhere. That includes the Web.com Tour, where China’s Hao Tong Li is playing for the second year. An elite prospect that has commanded attention since he turned pro in 2011, Li, then 18, broke through with four victories in two months in late 2014. That run included a OneAsia Tour title and, more significantly, three firsts in PGA TOUR China events. By winning PGA TOUR China’s Order of Merit that year, Li became the first Chinese member of the Web.com Tour. Last year, shuttling between the European and Web.com Tours, Li piled up dollars, travel miles and incalculable experience. He made 16 of 23 cuts on the Web.com Tour, where he won $101,952 and retained his card by finishing 49th in earnings. His European Tour play was even more impressive. He made five of seven cuts and won nearly the equivalent of $700,000. That part of his 2015 was highlighted by three top-10s. In April, Li lost a sudden-death playoff to Kiradech Aphibarnrat at the Shenzhen International, where his final-round 67 almost made him the first Chinese player to win a European Tour event on home soil. That near-miss was followed by a solo sixth at the Volvo China Open, and, in November, Li recorded the highest PGA TOUR finish for a Chinese-born player when he notched a T7 at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai (bettering Weng-Chong Liang’s T8 at the 2010 PGA Championship). Said the outgoing Li afterward: “This is very, very big. Incredible for me this week.” Indications are, his best is yet to come.