Ashun Wu is proud he never lost belief after the disappointment of narrowly losing his DP World Tour card last season as he looks to make it back-to-back titles on home soil at the inaugural Hainan Classic.
The Chinese trailblazer produced a stunning Sunday comeback to win the Volvo China Open for the second time last week, months after losing his full playing privileges on Golf’s Global Tour by just one spot on the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Wu, now a five-time DP World Tour winner, is exempt through to the end of the 2026 season and eager to kick on after an elbow injury plagued his final months of last year.
"Last year, I had a hard time," he said.
"I had tennis elbow so for the last nine weeks it was very tough for me.
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"We had a very sad moment, I lost by one spot on keeping my Tour card. It was really sad.
"But we never gave up, still trusted myself to come back. My body is good, my game was still good so I always trusted myself that I could come back, no problem."
His victory in Shanghai – almost a decade to the day since his first DP World Tour win at the same event – lifted the 39-year-old to 22nd on the season-long rankings, but more importantly in the short term to joint-third on the Asian Swing standings.
A good showing again this week will put him in a strong place to claim one of three spots on offer for next month’s US PGA Championship to the top three ranked players in the Swing.
Asked what his goals are now he has returned to the winner’s circle, Wu said: “First, I need to take care of my elbow, get my tennis elbow back to 100 per cent and then prepare to win a title again.
"I will talk to my caddie and speak to some players and caddies who have this experience of how to prepare for the next week, trying to win back to back. I think I have a couple of ideas how to prepare for this week to try and win back to back."
Also looking to shine on home soil this week is Zihao Zin, who is in the midst of his rookie season on the DP World Tour after winning five times on his way to finishing top of last year’s China Tour Order of Merit.
The 26-year-old registered his first top ten in Kenya in February but believes he has not played to his true potential and is excited by the challenge the Blackstone Course at Mission Hills Resort Haikou will pose.
“I came here about a month ago to play a few practice rounds,” he said.
“The course is a great layout, a very long course, 7700 yards. I think it will be a challenging golf course for us this week. The course is in very good condition right now, so I look forward to it.
“I think approach shots (will be the key). The approach shot will generally be pretty long in length, probably hitting a lot of long irons and then the greens have some undulations to it, so you have got to control your long irons.”
