After a close call at last week’s Shenzhen
International Scott Hend is the man to watch at this week’s China Open as the
42-year-old hunts a third European Tour title on Asian soil.

It was only a third round 73, which came as
part of a marathon Sunday which saw Hend play 30 holes in a day, that curtailed
his chances last week and he will be keen to go one better in Beijing.

Hend has traditionally played well in runs
and when his confidence is up he is a match for any player in the world.

A win at last month’s True Thailand
Classic, his second European Tour title, and last week’s T4 finish on the back
of some scintillating golf will have him in a positive frame of mind and it
would be a surprise if he wasn’t in the mix again come Sunday.

Co-sanctioned with OneAsia, the Volvo China
Open sees 18 Australasians tee up this week with five European Tour regulars
joined by a host of locals looking for a big break onto the world stage.

Nathan Holman, Brett Rumford and Wade
Ormsby will all back up from last week’s event in Shenzhen while Jason
Scrivener makes his first start since the Hero Indian Open in March.

From the OneAsia ranks 2016 Q-School winner
Jamie Arnold gets his first opportunity as a full member and is joined by
several of Australia’s best who ply their trade on the OneAsia circuit.

Former Fiji International winner Steven
Jeffress, 2014 Australian Masters champion Nick Cullen and former New Zealand
Open champion Dimi Papadatos will all be hoping to replicate that winning form
and earn a European Tour berth while former PGA TOUR player Michael Sim
continues his journey back to the top echelons of the game.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox is another with
plenty to play for having come within a whisker of earning European playing
rights via the secondary Challenge Tour last year.

Starting 2015 with no status, Fox first
earned his way onto the Challenge Tour then, after posting a victory, came
within a few hundred Euros of being among the top-15 money earners to graduate
to the main tour at year’s end.