Conor Purcell came out swinging at the inaugural Hangzhou Open, seizing the lead with a sizzling eight-under-par 63.
The Irishman wasted no time setting the tone at the West Lake International Golf and Country Club, ending the first day one stroke ahead of Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg and Italy’s Gregorio De Leo, both carding matching 64s.
Purcell, who had a lukewarm finish at the Hainan Open—tying for 59th—was back in top form.
He fired off five birdies for a front-nine 31, adding another birdie on the 12th before sealing the deal with back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th to sign off a flawless round.
“I didn’t play my best golf last week and it’s nice to start the week with eight-under,” Purcell said. “I drove the ball pretty well and hit lots of fairways.
On this golf course, if you start to miss the fairways, it becomes very difficult to hit greens. I’m very pleased with how I’ve hit off the tee and put good shots in.”
The 27-year-old, currently 12th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, has had a rollercoaster season.
His highlight came in July when he claimed his maiden Challenge Tour title at the Black Desert NI Open, presented by Tom McKibbin. With only two events left in the season, Purcell is eyeing a strong finish.
“It has been an up and down year,” he admitted. “I had some good results and spells where I didn’t play very well.
But overall, I’m very pleased with where I am, especially with this being the second last event.
I just keep pushing and try to win every week. There’s still lots of golf to play and I need to make more birdies.
Everyone here still has the chance to win the tournament so I’m just trying to focus on my game and hitting the best shots I can and see where it leaves me.”
Sweden’s Niklas Lemke, England’s Ben Schmidt, Spain’s Angel Ayora, and South Africa’s Justin Walters all sit tied for fourth on six-under-par.
Local talent Ding Wenyi, fresh off his 2024 Global Amateur Pathway victory, made an impressive professional debut with a 66, putting him three shots behind Purcell in eighth place.
Round two of the Hangzhou Open tees off at 6:30 am local time, with Purcell taking the first swing at 6:50 am alongside Sydney Chung from the U.S. and Sweden’s Björn Åkesson.
