The Volvo China Open makes its long-awaited return to the Asian Tour schedule this week, and it will be the first time since 2019 that the event has been open to international players following three years of interruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The US$1.5 million event, which is part of the Asian Tour’s highly lucrative International Series for the first time, will see the top players from the Asian Tour compete alongside the best players from China at Hidden Grace Golf Club, in Shenzhen. The club formerly known as Genzon Golf Club has hosted the tournament four times, in 2014 and from 2019 to 2021.

This week marks the 28th staging of the tournament – which has enjoyed a storied history since its inauguration four decades ago.

When the Volvo China Open was first played in 1995 at Beijing International Golf Club it was the first time a major international professional tournament was held in China, and the ground-breaking event was won by Raul Fretes of Paraguay. While the event was not a part of the Asian Tour schedule in the first year, it would join a year later.

The history of the Volvo China Open pictured on a branded wall at Hidden Grace Golf Club. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

During the early years of the Asian Tour the Volvo China Open was an important event on the schedule, and it would help launch and shape the careers of several noteworthy Asian Tour players.

In its first year as part of the Asian Tour, legendary Thai player Prayad Marksaeng won by nine strokes over Hsieh Yu-shu of Chinese Taipei. It was his maiden professional win and the first of his 10 Asian Tour victories.

In 1997 history was made when the third staging of the tournament saw its first Chinese winner, with Cheng Jun lifting the trophy after winning by five shots over Australian Adrian Percey. That victory was expected to be the first of many for the exceptionally talented Cheng, but surprisingly it remains his only professional victory.

The 1999 edition of the event at Shanghai Silport Golf Club was famously won by Kyi Hla Han of Myanmar by seven shots from American Christian Pena, and the victory helped Han secure the Asian Tour Order of Merit crown that season. Han would later become instrumental in re-shaping the Asian Tour when he took over as Chairman in 2004, and he is credited for having overseen the rapid growth of the professional game in Asia. Han sadly passed away in February of 2022 aged 61 after a short battle with illness, and earlier this year the Asian Tour launched the Kyi Hla Han Future Champions Award in his honor.

Four years later in 2003 Chinese star Zhang Lianwei won the title at Shanghai Silport, it was Zhang’s second win of the year having previously won the Caltex Masters in Singapore in a play-off over Ernie Els of South Africa. That year he also became the first player from his country to crack the top-100 on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and as a result received a special invitation to play in the Masters, the first player from China to do so.

The tournament was co-sanctioned by Asian Tour and DP World Tour between 2004-2008 and in 2006 Jeev Milkha Singh became the first player from India to win the Volvo China Open. His victory was the first out of four global wins in Singh’s fabulous season, capped by claiming the Asian Tour Order of Merit. He also finished the year inside the top-50 in the OWGR, earning an invitation to the Masters, becoming the first Indian to play in this Major the following year.

The Volvo China Open would not be sanctioned by the Asian Tour between the years 2009 and 2017, but among the noteworthy winners during this period were China’s Wu Ashun and Li Haotong who posted their first DP World Tour victories with these wins, and PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang of Korea who won the tournament in 2010.

The Volvo China Open returned to the Asian Tour schedule in 2018 when Sweden’s Alexander Björk claimed the trophy, and again the following year when victory went to Finland’s Mikko Korhonen.

Jeev Milkha Singh of India with the winners trophy after the final round of the Volvo China Open at the Beijing Honghua International Golf Club in 2006. Picture by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images.

The global pandemic meant the tournament was played as a China only event in 2020 and 2021, with local pros Huilin Zhang and Jin Zhang winning the last two editions. No event was held in 2022.

Both of those players are competing this week, when the region can enjoy the return of China’s biggest and most important golf event.