The stars of the DP World Tour and Asia's top young golfing talents will be prominent when the Volvo China Open tees off in Shanghai, April 17 to 20 at Enhance Anting Golf Club.

With a purse of 2.55 million U.S. dollars, the golf action will be intense as the 30th anniversary of the national championship marks the penultimate stop of the DP World Tour's Asian Swing. The top three players at the end of the four-tournament swing will receive a spot in the field for next month's PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

Adrian Otaegui is the defending champion and will be in Shanghai attempting to become the first player to win back-to-back titles. To do so, he will have to beat a top field featuring eight players who have won on the DP World Tour in the 2024-2025 season. Among them are Elvis Smylie, Johannes Veerman, Shaun Norris, Alejandro Del Rey, Dylan Naidoo, Calum Hill, Eugenio Chacarra, and China No. 1 Li Haotong, the 2016 Volvo China Open champion who won the Qatar Masters in February.

With former Volvo China Open champions Wu Ashun, Zhang Jin, Nicolas Colsaerts and two-time winner Alexander Levy also in the field, Otaegui said he knows he is in for a tough week if he is to achieve a successful title defense.

"Defending a title is always a great feeling and hopefully I can do that," said Otaegui, a Dubai-based Spaniard who overcame a five-shot deficit to win last year's championship by a stroke in Shenzhen. "I just want to do the best I can and the Volvo China Open has a great history with a long list of winners. I want to be in contention on Sunday and that is what motivates me."

The championship also provides a great opportunity for golf fans to get a close-up view of the game's rising young stars, among them Beijing native Ding Wenyi, a DP World Tour rookie who turned pro last year after an outstanding amateur career. Jin Zihao, the 2024 China Tour Order of Merit winner, is another playing full-time on the DP World Tour and will undoubtedly be looking to challenge at his national championship after finishing equal 35th last year.

Others in the field include Taichi Kho who in 2023 became the first Hong Kong, China player to win on the Asian Tour, and American-Chinese Brandon Wu, the former PGA Tour regular who is now playing on the DP World Tour.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest galleries at the Open will be for Keita Nakajima. The rising Japanese star turned pro in 2022 after spending 87 weeks at the top of the World Golf Amateur Ranking, eclipsing Jon Rahm's previous record of 60 weeks.

After four wins on the Japan Tour, one as an amateur, the 24-year-old captured his first DP World Tour title last year when he went wire-to-wire to win the Hero Indian Open. He is currently seventh in the Race To Dubai Rankings after runner-up finishes in Singapore and India.

Nakajima said he was looking forward to returning to China, he said: "I have great memories of the tournament. I remember the fans being very passionate about the sport and I enjoyed every minute of it," said the Saitama native, the world No. 100. "National opens are very important. They are the most prestigious event in each country we play. I would love to win many national opens, including the Volvo China Open.

"My plans for the rest of 2025 are to compete on the DP World Tour. I hope to compete in major championships and to finish in the top 10 of the DP World Tour rankings to move to the PGA Tour."

Amateurs Li Zhengda and Li Zhengqian are also in Open, marking the first time Chinese brothers will play in a Volvo China Open field. In November, 14-year-old Li Zhengda won the boy's group competition at the 19th Volvo China Junior Match-Play Championship in Hainan, a tournament where he beat his older brother, Li Zhengqian, 3&2 in the quarter-final. 

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