Zecheng Dou eyeing first win in China for nearly a decade

Zecheng Dou is targeting his first win on home soil in ten years after a flawless 65 surged him into contention at the Volvo China Open.

The 28-year-old burst on to the scene in 2016 with four victories on the PGA China Tour in the space of four months and has since tried his luck in the United States.

That means he rarely gets to compete in China, but Dou made up for lost time as he carded two brilliant eagles - at the third and the last - and two birdies to sit three adrift of co-leaders Haotong Li, Eugenio Chacarra and Tapio Pulkkanen in sole fifth.

"Those two eagles were very nice to have. Overall, just a really solid round. Not a whole lot of mistakes, very happy with it," Dou said.

"The one on 18 (was my favourite) because I bogeyed it yesterday. I hit a good drive but it went through the fairway and into the hazard zone, so I had to chip out. Today I hit the fairway, hit a really good five wood on to the green to 12 feet and made the putt. Three really good shots, I was really happy with that.

"(On the third) I hit a really good drive and had a six iron, kind of thinned it over the green on the fringe and made a 25-30 footer, another really good one.

"I really want to win in my home country, it’s been about ten years since my last one in China. It would be really pleasing.

"There’s two more days and really good players out here. I just have to work my way through and if I do happen to get lucky enough to win, I’ll be thinking from there."

The only player to separate Dou and the leading trio is Jannik De Bruyn, who also carded a 65 to follow up his opening 69.

The German picked up seven birdies and a solitary bogey to climb up to fourth and lies just two behind heading into the weekend.

"I played some great golf," the 25-year-old said. "Yesterday was tough because it was quite windy in the afternoon.

"I kept everything together and today a few more putts dropped. I finished with six under and it felt like that the whole way.

"I felt like I found my game entering this week and have a good feeling overall. I felt that I just need to be patient and stick through not so good times.

"It’s only half of the tournament, but I’m pleased with the two rounds and hope to finish it off well at the weekend."