Malaysia’s Ng Jing Xuen fought to an opening 72 as she ended the first round of the Women’s China Open on Friday some six shots back of early pacesetter Fan Shuangshuang of China.
The 17-year-old Jing Xuen started her campaign well at Enhance Anting Golf Club with an outward 34 featuring three birdies but gave shots away on her inward nine as she battled against the tricky greens in the CNY 1 million CLPG Tour flagship tournament. “I did a pretty good job. My second putts really helped a lot, I saved a lot of pars with my short putts and I think I will need to sharpen my longer putts and get the speed right tomorrow. The greens here are really fast,“ said Jingxuen, who wrote Malaysian golf history by becoming the first female individual gold medallist at the 2023 Southeast Asian Games.. “No complaints honestly and I’ll try to keep it simple tomorrow, fairways and greens and hopefully I’ll do okay.”
China’s Fan fired a stellar 6-under 66 to seize a two-stroke lead in what is her first tournament start in six months. The 20-year-old Fan smiled her way to nine brilliant birdies through her opening 14 holes before stumbling with a double bogey on the 15th hole which allowed in-form Canadian teenager Anna Huang to stay hot on her heels after a 68.
Defending champion Ji Yuai began her campaign with a battling 71 to end the first day five strokes back while 16-year-old Xu Ying, who turned professional this week after earning low individual honours at the recent World Amateur Team Championships Espirito Santo Trophy in Singapore, also carded a 71. This week’s CLPG Tour flagship tournament is only Fan’s third appearance of 2025 as she took a sabbatical due to health reasons but she has quickly dusted off her clubs, with a hot putter propelling her to a sizzling start in Shanghai. “This is my first tournament round in a while. I’m very nervous at the start but my irons were pretty good and it encouraged me to play better. My putting is usually not that good but today, it went well and my caddie helped a lot with reading the greens. I got some good luck too,“ said Fan.
Keeping her expectations low for her long-awaited return to Tour life, Fan displayed a positive attitude and brushed aside her lone blemish on the 15th hole. “It was a bad thing, but I’m still like 6-under and based on the score, I was not nervous,“ she said. “I played in the China Open many years back (in 2019) which was a great experience as I got to play with Feng Shanshan and Yin Ruoning (in the third round) and that was fascinating. I know I’m not quite as good like them, but it really encouraged me to practice harder. I’ve tried to play in the U.S. (Epson Tour) in the last two years but it didn’t go well.”
