Dubai Desert Classic: Li Haotong hints at revival after taking lead in opening round

A familiar name reemerged on the top of the leaderboard after the first session at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, and hinted at a career revival in the process.

There must have been times in the recent past when Li Haotong feared he could be about to vanish from golf’s reckoning for good.

The Chinese player became the first Asian winner of the Classic when he beat Rory McIlroy down the stretch back in 2018.

The points he accrued in claiming the Dallah Trophy back then vaulted Haotong to a career best placing of 32 in the world rankings. He was 22 at the time, and appeared on the brink of joining the game’s elite.

Since that high watermark, though, his decline has been not so much steady and startling. In 22 starts last season, Haotong missed the cut 18 times, and registered zero top 10 finishes.

He is way out at 476th in the standings now, but Dubai appears to be working a charm for him all over again. Haotong finished tied 14th in the 60-player field at the Dubai Invitational last week.

Buoyed by that promising start to the new campaign, he re-announced himself as a contender for titles with a 5-under-par 67 on the opening morning at the Majlis.

That gave him a one-stroke lead among the early finishers. The group of five players a 4-under included Adrian Meronk and Nicolai Hojgaard, two of the stars of Europe’s Ryder Cup win in Rome last year.

Li Haotong birdies his final hole to lead at -5