Andrew's Hainan Open (HPT) Preview

As the Korn Ferry Tour wraps up, the HotelPlanner Tour returns from an overdue break for a final burst to the finish. Ahead of the Grand Finale in Majorca at the end of the month, we have two weeks in China, first the Hainan Open and then the Hangzhou Open. Both are limited to the current top 75 on the Road to Majorca standings, augmented by 52 local players. Don’t entirely rule this category out – we’ve seen Lloyd Jefferson Go reach a playoff, and recently Wenyi Ding was top-five as an amateur. But really this is about the travelling players and their fight for DPWT cards. Let’s get straight into it.

The Tournament

I don’t like to plagarise, so I’ll simply say that, for player quotes and a sense of the course, you can’t do better than read Ben Coley’s preview from last year. Although his picks didn’t work out, he had the right idea – in a week where the PGA and DPWT are facing tight driving lines and looking for accuracy and irons off the tee, it is time to let the big dogs growl on the HPT. By their nature, playoff rounds on feeder tours tend not to see the same players being successful year after year (the good ones graduate, you see) but JC Ritchie was high up the leaderboard last year, as was Gregorio de Leo who is likely to just miss out on playing. Go returns from the local list to attempt once again to spoil the party. For the majority of the contenders, however, this is new, but it isn’t complicated.

So yes, we’re looking for strong drivers, and ideally not too wide. On a course where you’ll need to get to high teens under par to compete (on a 7,184 yard par-72) some decent putting will be essential, too, as pars won’t get the job done. So players with a record of good driving, heavy scoring and straightforward resort golf are the order of the day. There isn’t much to worry about from a weather perspective, though we’re likely to see some wet afternoons. Assuming there isn’t any lightning, hopefully disruption will be minimal. Oh, and don’t miss the start for your bets – these events will start early – like, early evening Wednesday if you’re in the US. It’s a shame that there aren’t courses to get excited about for the playoffs, but we see some good courses on this tour and the finale is played on a cracking course.

The Selections

Really, for me, the first choice came down to Oihan Guillamoundeguy or JC Ritchie. Whilst I can see the arguments both ways, I think the former has more to play for, is more dynamic from the tee, and ultimately has a higher ceiling. I do rate Ritchie and I think he’ll be a solid DPWT player in coming years, but Guillaumondeguy has a chance to be better than that and he can prove it on a straightforward course that plays to his strengths. His win in Ireland came on a long, tough, resort course and actually has more comparisons than a cursory glance would suggest.

Secondly, I’m taking a bigger price than I expected to see on Tobias Jonsson, the talk of this tour at the moment. The power-packed Swede only joined the HPT in May and is yet to win an event but still manages to rank 13^th in the R2M. He was a great amateur, wining the Eisenhower at Le Golf National in 2022 and with four top tens already on the HPT is surely going to be winning as a professional sooner rather than later. I wanted to find an outsider, and I wanted to find a Chinese national to take on the incoming tour stars, but this price was too good to resist. Let’s keep it simple this week with, for my money, the three most talented young bombers on the HPT.

My third and final pick was tougher. I had hoped to add Wilcon Nienaber, who managed to grab 11^th here last year, but for all he’s incredibly naturally talented and hits the ball further than anyone, the results are not there and he’s been in poor form this season since leaving his native South Africa. I can’t see any reason why he should improve on last year’s performance, except that I would note that the field he’s taking on is arguably weaker. I also considered young Yanhan Zhou who is comically dominating the Chinese Tour. However, he’s understandably popular in the markets and not a feasible option at the price. As good as he may be, this is a massive step up in quality of opposition (though he comfortably made the cuts against DPWT opposition in the spring.) Jefferson Lloyd Go was another worth thinking about but again, at the price I wasn’t quite there.

All of which leads me back to Palmer Jackson. The young American has not really put together a consistent season in his first full year as a professional, but his highs are awfully high (winning Raffeisenbank on a mid-length, bomber-friendly resort course in Czechia) and his lows include an awful lot of missed cuts. With some very weak performances I can see why his price is so long, but this is a straightforward test.  It won’t be unlike a lot of what he saw in college – where he was good enough to finish eighth in the 2024 NCAAs (a shot behind Jackson Koivun and alongside Karl Vilips at a long resort course in California) as the star of the Notre Dame side. He might crash and burn again, but at the price I’m willing to see if he can turn up and perform to his best. That would be good enough.

• Oihan Guillaumondeguy, 16/1, 2pts win, William Hill

• Tobias Jonsson, 25/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, William Hill

• Palmer Jackson 100/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, William Hill