China's Li steadily climbs back up ranks

DP World Asian Swing will wrap up with 3 invites to PGA Championship on the line

Haotong Li has plenty to be smiling about in 2025 (Zhe Ji/Getty Images)

When Haotong Li won the 2018 Omega Dubai Desert Classic, the best Chinese golfer in the world moved to No. 32 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

That was seven years ago, and it was his highest world ranking position in his career. Li has struggled to maintain a high position since.

As recently as the start of 2024, Li had dropped to 509th globally and was still outside the top 500 in the middle of last summer. But in 2025, with consistently solid play, Li has climbed closer to the top 100.

After his win in February at the DP World Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, Li moved from No. 300 to 154th. “It means a lot. I never thought I could come back in this position,” Li said after posting his first win since the 2022 BMW International Open.

As he enters this week's DP World Tour event in Hainan, China, the 29-year-old Li is No. 133 after a T4 in last week’s Volvo China Open.

With a first-round 6-under 66 on Thursday in the Hainan Classic, Li staked himself to a share of the early clubhouse lead for the second straight week and is poised to break inside the top 100 for the first time since 2019 if he can pull off the victory. He is tied with Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Kristoffer Reitan after a day cut short by thunder and lightning.

“I’ve been playing really solid the whole day and very pleased to finish with a good score like today,” LI said, a week after just missing out on a win in Shanghai after holding a share of the 54-hole lead. “I think you have to avoid the danger. The fairway is quite wide, but you still have to hit a good shot.”

For Li, who sits ninth in the DP World Tour’s Asian Swing rankings — a compilation of points over four events in Singapore, India and China — a win is worth 585 OWGR points and would likely catapult him into the top three in the Asian Swing rankings and earn him a spot in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow next month. Li finished T17 in his last PGA Championship start in 2020.

The current standings are led by Japan’s Keita Nakajima and Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra. There is a tie for third between England’s Richard Mansell and last week's winner, Ashun Wu from China. The swing ends this week at Hainan.

“I think last week the greens, sometimes some of the holes were too firm and some of the pin positions made it difficult to stop,” Li said of his struggles in the China Open. “Course set-up suits me, if you hit a good tee shot, you get rewarded here.”

Li has played in 14 majors, his best finish being third in the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. After that finish, Li has struggled in majors, not recording a top-10 finish. He hasn’t played in a major since the 2022 Open Championship, where he missed the cut.

Li has played in four PGA Championships, including the 2017 one at Quail Hollow, where he missed the cut.

Over the next three days, Li’s opportunity to make his 15th major hangs in the balance. But with solid showings over the last two months that includes the win in Qatar as well as a T16 in South Africa, T9 in Singapore and last week’s T4, the four-time winner on the DP World Tour is in the best positions he has been in years to get a spot in a major.