Chinese golfer An Tong wins the championship at the third Hangzhou International Championship in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on July 10, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of China Golf Association

On the back of an excellent performance in the final round, An Tong, a 16-year-old Chinese amateur, won her first professional championship trophy during the mixed individual stroke play event at the China Tour at the third Hangzhou International Championship in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province on Sunday. 

Fan Shuangshuang, 17, from Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, won the second, and veteran golfer Chen Dinggen, 42, from East China's Jiangxi Province and Sui Xiang tied for third place.

"It still feels like a dream. Maybe until I wake up tomorrow morning, I can finally realize that I won a professional event," An said after the match. 

The China LPGA Tour swung back into action last week with an epic clash against the men of the China Tour.

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the cancellation of a raft of events on both tours in the first half of 2022, the staging of the tournament at Youcheng Mogan Mountain Guanyun Golf Club kicked off on Wednesday. Marking the resumption of domestic professional golf in 2022, the China Tour was held from Thursday to Sunday.

Founded in 2019, the Hangzhou International Golf Championship is jointly organized by the China Golf Association (CGA) and the Hangzhou Sports Bureau. As the first China Tour of dual certification of both men and women, the event attracted the participation and the attention of top domestic players with significant prize money and innovative competition system.

The tournament welcomed a total of 78 players, including the 2019 event champion Chao Haimeng and the men's China Tour champion Liu Yanwei; women's players, such as China Tour Champion Pan Yanhong and Zhao Zhimeng, together fought for the championship title. 

"As the result of China Golf Association's determined reform and bold innovation, the resumption of the Hangzhou International Championship is of great significance," said Li Jinliang, director of CGA's competition department.

"Especially as the first event of professional golf in China in 2022, it also fired the starting gun for the orderly and smooth promotion of subsequent professional events," he added.

"I'm so glad we finally have a tournament," said Liu Yanwei, the world No. 735 who captured the Zhengzhou Classic in 2021.