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 Tianjin, 1 April 2011: Hu Mu claimed his first victory as a professional golfer by winning the Northern China qualifying event for the Volvo China Open in Tianjin today.

Hu added a one over par 73 to his opening round 73 to win by two shots over national junior squad member Liu Yu-xiang, who led the event for much of the day until dropped shots on the 17^th and 18^th pulled him back to the field, and Beijing-based Tuo Wen-tao, who closed with a four over round of 76.

The three will now compete with some of the world’s leading players in the 17^th Volvo China Open in Chengdu later this month.

“I’m both thrilled and relieved to get through what was a very tough day,” said Hu. “The cold wind made things really difficult so good concentration was paramount.”

“This will be my third Volvo China Open and I’m very much looking forward to playing with top stars. It’s my national Open so I plan to do well.”

Hu could have been five or even six under par for today’s round had his putter cooperated as well as his woods and iron clubs. The 21-year-old drilled a three-iron 256-yards on the long par-five ninth to set up his first birdie of the day.

An eight-foot par putt on the par-four 14^th seemed to be the key point in the Shenzhen-born Hu’s round, and he admitted later to feeling more confident over the difficult closing holes after holing the putt and seeing his name at the top of the leaderboard that was positioned on the back of the same green.

Hu spit the fairway on the long par-five 15^th hole and hit a majestic fairway wood 260 yards over the lake to set up a 25-foot eagle putt that stopped inches away from the hole, but left him with a tap-in birdie.

Liu demonstrated a talent way beyond his 17 years today and fully deserves his place in Chengdu. The dropped shots on 17 and 18 were uncharacteristic of his round, and he put them down to bad luck.

“I had a bad lie in the rough on the edge of a bunker on the 17^th and the ball flew to the back of the green,” said Liu. “It was a difficult shot anyway from the poor lie but I’m proud of myself for holing the five-foot bogey putt.”

The Volvo China Open will take place over the JMP-designed 7,335-yard layout at Luxehills International Country Club in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The event this year offers a record prize fund of RMB20 million (approx US$3 million), with the Champion receiving a cheque for RMB3.3 million (approx US$500,000).

All events will be showcased on OneAsia's television platform with live coverage for four hours a day across all four tournament days, and broadcast to over 400 million homes in more than 40 countries.

Full coverage of OneAsia is available internationally on ESPN Star Sports, Jupiter Golf Network, SBS Golf Channel, Fox International, Network Ten, Sky Sports NZ, ESPN3 and America One in the USA, and ViaSat and Bloomberg Television among others in Europe.

For more information please visit www.volvochinaopen.com or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Final Result（Top 20）