Yuan Hao is hoping he will win his first tournament at this week's 100,000 US dollars golf championship in Xiamen, the second event on the 10-leg Omega China Tour.
Yuan's growing confidence follows impressive top-10 finishes in the past two weeks, as well as three seasons of consistent results on the Chinese circuit.
Last week, the big-hitting Guangdong native was the highest-placed Chinese player in the KEB Invitational in Shanghai, finishing tied for seventh in an invitation-only event featuring professionals from the Korean and Chinese PGAs.
His Shanghai result came on the back of his joint-eighth finish in the Guangzhou Championship, the Omega China Tour's season opener two weeks ago.
"I really want to finally win on the Omega China Tour, so I'm really looking forward to the Xiamen Championship. I feel like I'm playing good golf at the moment," said the 28-year-old, who has twice finished runner-up on Tour, to Zhang Lianwei in last year's Guangzhou Championship and Li Chao in the 2006 Shandong Championship.
"I should have finished higher in Shanghai last week, but I was a bit affected by the strong wind. Still, it was my second event in two weeks and now we have the Xiamen Championship, so I feel much more confident with three events back to back. With regular tournament play, my preparation is better and mentally I feel much stronger."
Yuan, who is 1.74 meters tall, is one of the longest hitters on the Omega China Tour, regularly exceeding 300 yards off the tee, but said he had learnt a lot from playing with some of South Korea's finest last week.
"It was my first time playing with so many Korean players and I learned a lot from them," Yuan said. "They're very competitive in the golf world. They have a great mental game and are excellent with the shorter clubs."
Yuan will need all his power at the par-70 Orient (Xiamen) layout, which has been extended to over 6,900 yards for this week's event and includes a 488-yard par-four second hole, only two yards shorter than the Tour's longest-ever par-four.
Along with Yuan, a host of other players, including Zhang Lianwei and Li Chao, head into the Chengdu Championship with good reason to be confident of success.
Zhang is looking for his third successive win on the Tour, following victories in last year's season-ending Omega Championship and this year's curtain raiser in Guangzhou.
Li is looking to again win over the Orient (Xiamen) layout where he won last year's Xiamen leg, a victory that gave him an unassailable lead in the Omega Order of Merit, which he also won in 2005.
This year the Xiamen event has been renamed the Dell Championship following the support of the computer giant, which is title sponsoring a Chinese tournament for the first time.
The event's profile has also been raised by the return of two of China's Asian Tour players. Shang Lei and Wu Ashun have both returned to the Omega China Tour this week, having earned a full card for the regional circuit at this year's qualifying school.
Shang will be especially keen to win after pushing Li all the way to the final hole in Xiamen last year, eventually losing out by one shot.
Other players to look out for include teenage amateurs Su Dong and Hu Mu, the latter finishing as China's third-highest finisher in the KEB Invitational.
However, it's not only players from the Chinese mainland who will challenge for the Dell trophy. For the second successive Omega China Tour event, the Chinese Taipei challenge will be fronted by Hsu Mongnan and Chan Yihshin, third and fourth respectively on their domestic circuit last year.
Chan made headlines at the Guangzhou Championship, when he led after the first two rounds, due in large to an opening five-under-par 67.
Hsu finished joint runner-up with his compatriot and followed that with an appearance in last week's Asian Tour International in Thailand, where he shot two rounds of one-under-par 71 but missed the cut by one stroke.
Hong Kong will also have a strong presence at the Dell Championship. Dominique Boulet and Wong Woon-man are the event's two invites from the SAR, while Nick Redfern, James Stewart and Al Morales are among the foreign professionals who earned a full card for the Omega China Tour at a qualifying school earlier this year.
(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2008)
