Volvo China Open 2026 FRL Tips: A quartet to spark early in Far East

The Volvo China Open begins on Wednesday evening (11.20pm UK time) at Enhance Anting Golf Club. With conditions set fair and consistent across the day, the race for the first-round lead is wide open.

Our resident golf tipster Jamie Worsley is here with four picks he fancies to take advantage in his Volvo China Open 2026 FRL Betting Tips, which you can check out below...

You can read Jamie's full Volvo China Preview here..

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It’s forecast to be cloudy and cool throughout round one, with temperatures settling between 12-15°C. Although we could see gusting winds at upwards of 20mph, general speeds of 7-9mph shouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience.

The course will likely be receptive due to rain in the days leading in, and with the weather outlined above similar for both morning and afternoon waves, we can pick freely across the tee times in our search for the first-round leader.

1 pt Wenyi Ding each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 40/1

Start time: 7.30am

Having found first-round form in recent outings, home favourite Wenyi Ding is my first selection in this market. This former No. 3 amateur has started his second season on the DPWT strongly, and as a heavy scorer who impressed here last year, he can take advantage of this soft course.

After a rookie campaign that yielded nine top-25 finishes and just five missed cuts, Ding has begun the new season brightly. He finished 2^nd at the Australian PGA Championship at the end of 2025 and has secured four further top-25s, most recently finishing 14^th at the Hainan Classic in March.

That was a result engineered by a fast start, as he opened with a six-under 66 to sit 3^rd after round one. In fact, he has kicked off each of his last four events with a round in the 60s, including shooting a 67 to hit the top 10 at the International Series Japan on the Asian Tour at the beginning of April.

He ranks 6^th in first-round performance in this field over the last 12 months, and 10^th across the previous three months. Also sitting inside the top 20 in birdie average and SG: Putting, he has the arsenal to spike a low round here.

Ding began with a one-under 70 at Enhance Anting in 2025 and got better as the week progressed, following with scores of 69, 68 and 68 to finish 8^th. He ranked 15^th in SG: Tee-to-Green and 21^st in SG: Putting, showing enough all-round quality to suggest he can hit the front early.

0.75 pts Kiradech Aphibarnrat each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 66/1

Start time: 12.40pm

Arriving with five first-round top-20s across his last seven appearances, quick starts have become somewhat of a habit for Kiradech Aphibarnrat. He was a promising 10^th around this layout 12 months ago, and he can rely on that experience to make the early running in China.

After missing cuts in Dubai and Bahrain to begin the year, Kiradech has steadied the ship in recent months. He’s only failed to make the weekend once across his last six outings, and though he hasn’t really threatened the leaderboard, there has been promise, especially during round one.

We last saw him on the DPWT in India, where he fired a two-under 70 to sit 8^th after the first round. He was 9^th thru 18 holes of the South African Open prior to that and went even better in Kenya one stop earlier, producing a seven-under 63 to end Thursday in 3^rd place.

Kiradech made a solid start here in 2025, opening with a two-under 69, before rounds of 68 and 65 put him within one shot of the lead entering the final round. He slipped to 10^th after a closing 74, but there’s enough evidence at hand that shows this is a course on which he can go low.

0.75 pts Gregorio De Leo each-way (1/4 - 5 places) @ 70/1

Start time: 12.00pm

Ranking 4^th in this field in first-round performance in 2026, Gregorio De Leo is my next selection. Although there were positives during his rookie season, he’s been more consistent this campaign, and with a 9^th-place finish in Qatar (his best result of the year) a decent guide, he should appreciate the challenge of Enhance Anting.

De Leo has only missed two of his nine cuts this season and has recorded four top-25s. He excelled with the driver in 2025 and has improved with the putter this year, but it’s his ability to start quickly that really stands out.

The Italian began 2026 with a five-under 67 in Bahrain – enough to sit 8^th in round one – and went even better the following week, starting with a six-under 66 at the Qatar Masters to place 3^rd after 18 holes. Although he was a little slower to get going in Kenya, he still managed to find low rounds of 64 and 66 during that week.

De Leo returned to decent first-round form in China at the Hainan Classic, opening with a three-under 69. Then shooting the same number to hit the top five on Thursday at the Indian Open last time out, few arrive in Shanghai with a stronger body of day-one work.

0.75 pts Quim Vidal each-way (1/4 5 places) @ 125/1

Start time: 8.00am

I flagged Quim Vidal as a player to watch in this market all the way back at the Kenya Open due to his performances on the HotelPlanner Tour in recent years. After producing his best display of his rookie season in India last time out (both in the first round and overall finishing position), I’m going to jump back on in China.

Vidal finished 15^th on the HotelPlanner Tour points list in 2025, earning him this step up to the DPWT. It’s fair to say he struggled to adapt initially, missing six of his first nine cuts and failing to crack the top 50, but his 13^th-place finish in India last month could act as the springboard to further improvements.

He was an impressive 2^nd in bogey avoidance at DLF G&CC and also shone with his iron play and short game. However, it’s the start he made, beginning with a two-under 70 to hit the top 10, that really caught the eye.

Vidal recorded five first-round leads on the HotelPlanner Tour across the previous two seasons. The first two came in 2024, where he shot a 64 at the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge and a 65 at the Swiss Challenge, and he followed up three times last year, with respective scores of 66, 65 and 65 guiding him to the top spot at the Kolkata Challenge, Delhi Challenge, and Challenge de Cadiz.

These starts engineered some of his standout results at that lower level, and if his recent confidence carries over, he has the tools to transfer this ability to the DPWT.

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