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Teenage star Zhou leads the way in Austria

football28 May 2026 18:06
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Teenage star Yanhan Zhou carded a brilliant 62 to hold a one-shot lead after the first round at the Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbühel Tirol.

Zhou of China, who only turned 18 last month, is the youngest DP World Tour member this season but he belied his inexperience to top the leaderboard at eight under, one shot ahead of Portuguese Ricardo Gouveia.

Rafa Cabrera Bello, who won Austria’s national open to claim his first DP World Tour title in 2009, is in a six-way share of third place alongside Marcel Schneider, Tobias Jonsson, Davis Bryant, Lucas Bjerregaard and Brandon Robinson Thompson.

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On a day of clear and sunny skies, the morning wave enjoyed the best of the conditions before the breeze picked up for the afternoon starters at Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith - the DP World Tour’s 465th and newest venue.

Zhou has 11 wins on the China Tour, with seven of those coming last season as he romped to the Order of Merit title as a 17-year-old, and he has already shown his potential on the global stage with a tie for third on home soil at the Volvo China Open.

While he is yet to shine so far during the European Swing in Spain and Belgium, he appears to be finding his feet in impressive fashion in his rookie campaign.

"I'm just here for normal things," he said. "I'm the youngest player on the DP World Tour so I just want to play good golf.

"There are no goals for me, I just want to keep improving myself in the golf skills and the mindset."

Starting at the tenth, he made three birdies in a four-hole stretch from the 13th that also included his only bogey of the day over his first nine holes.

He then birdied his opening three holes of his back nine, added another gain at the sixth before saving his best to last by holing an eagle putt at the ninth to claim the outright lead.

“I hit it really good today, very solid,” he said. “I only made one bogey, which is very nice and I made so many putts, I think I'm just a little bit lucky today.

“On my last hole, the ninth, I just hit a perfect three-wood shot and another perfect shot on the green. I holed a 30-foot putt up the hill and that was just my day.”

HOLE-IN-ONE

Gouveia, who has four top top tens this season, is 16 years Zhou's senior and also bidding for a first DP World Tour win this week.

A seven-time HotelPlanner Tour winner, he bounced back from his lone bogey of the round at the third to card four birdies on both nines from then on in as he credited his putting as intrumental.

"You have got to hit fairways to create chances, I did that," he said.

"When I missed the fairways, I was able to either knock it on the green and two putt or get it up and down.

"The difference was the putter. I holed a lot of good putts, that's why my score was so low."

Spaniard Cabrera Bello is among the former champions in the field this week, having claimed his first DP World Tour title in Austria in 2009, and he mixed eight birdies with two bogeys.

Marcel Schneider of Germany, a two-time runner-up at this event, was bogey-free in his 64, a feat matched by both 2025 HotelPlanner Tour graduate Tobias Jonsson of Sweden and England's Brandon Robinson Thompson, with his highlight an eagle at the tenth - his opening hole of the day.

Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard, a two-time DP World Tour winner, made an eagle along with six birdies in an eventful round that also included a double bogey at the par three 15th, while his playing partner Davis Bryant birdied his final three holes to also sit at six under.

Brazil's Frederico Biondi Figueiredo, a graduate of last year's Qualifying School, made a hole in one at the seventh on his way to a 65, with local favourite Maximilian Steinlechner also at five under.

© DP World Tour

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