CHINESE golfer Li Haotong collected one of the biggest cheques of his career by holding off a host of Major champions to win the 2016 Mission Hills World Celebrity Pro-Am in Haikou, Hainan Province, on Sunday.

    Li, 21, who won the European Tour’s Volvo China Open earlier this year, birdied the final hole of the par-72 Blackstone Course at Mission Hills Haikou to shoot consecutive 69s and finish on 78 stableford points, one ahead of 2009 Women’s PGA Champion Anna Nordqvist of Sweden.

    Americans Mark O’Meara, Paula Creamer and overnight leader Rich Beem, all Major winners, were a further point back in a tie for third.

    A total of nine professional golfers were competing over two rounds of individual stableford for the US$1 million Mission Hills World Celebrity Pro-Am — with Li picking up the winner’s prize of US$250,000. Now in its fourth edition, this year’s impressive lineup of golfing greats also included Gary Player, John Daly, Suzann Pettersen and Natalie Gulbis.

    Icons from the world of sport include three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker and basketball Hall of Famers Allen Iverson and Yao Ming. They were joined by a host of soccer heroes, including Manchester United stars Paul Scholes, Dwight Yorke, Lee Sharpe and David May and Liverpool greats Robbie Fowler, Luis Garcia and Gary McAllister.

    “I had a great time all weekend,” said Iverson. “The experience was so great that I wanted my family to be a part of something like this.”

    “Our common purpose was to bring the world to China; and China to the world through golf,” said Tenniel Chu, vice chairman of Mission Hills Group.

    The biennial Mission Hills World Celebrity Pro-Am was established in 2010 as Asia’s first and only pro-celebrity golf tournament. This sporting and entertainment extravaganza aims to popularize golf in China whilst also promoting Hainan as a tourist destination and supporting local charities. Proceeds are being donated to The Nature Conservancy and the Hainan United Youth Association.

    (SD-Agencies)