Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.
Those are usually the names that dominate the news during the week of one of golf’s majors but on Friday, Haotong Li is among those making the headlines.
On Friday, Li posted the lowest score in a major by anyone from China. He’s looking to make history, as no player from his home country has ever held a lead or co-lead after a round at a major championship.
Li’s 5-under-par 65 moved him to the top of the leaderboard in the 102nd edition of the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park.
Has he ever won anything?
Just 25, Li has yet to really hit it big but he’s shown flashes.
He does have three PGA Tour China Series wins as well as three international victories, most recently in the 2018 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
In 2017, he closed with four birdies to shoot 63 to finish third in the Open Championship.
First to breach new rule
Li’s name is already in the history books for other reasons.
Early in 2019, he became the first player penalized under the rule which prohibits caddies from standing on or close to an extension of the line of play.
This happened about four weeks after the new Rules of Golf were rolled out. Li was handed a two-shot penalty at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic when it was determined that caddie Mike Burrow breached rule 10.3b(3) while Li was putting on the 18th green. The penalty dropped Li from a tie for third to 12th and cost him close to $100,000 in prize money.
Four eagles in one round
Li shook off the penalty a week later by posting a 62 during the third round of the Saudi International, a round that included four eagles.
Remarkably, three of the four eagles came on par 4s.
Li’s eagle-fest didn’t get the attention it probably deserved because on that same day, Sergio Garcia was thrown out of the tournament for wilfully damaging putting greens.
International acclaim
Last December, Li became the first player to represent China in the Presidents Cup. He was also in the 2016 Summer Olympics. He turned pro in 2011 when he was 16.
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