14-year-old Chinese golfer moves into top 50 at China Open

SHENZHEN, China (AP) — First he made the cut, now he’s inside the top 50. There’s no holding back 14-year-old Chinese golfer Kuang Yang in his first-ever European Tour event.

With a 3-under 69 that featured five birdies in his first 10 holes, Kuang moved into a tie for 44th place after the third round Saturday in his historic appearance at the Volvo China Open.

On Friday, he became the youngest person to make the cut at a regular European Tour event — outside the majors — at 14 years, 6 months, 12 days.

Kuang is 12 strokes behind the leader, France’s Benjamin Hebert, who shot 8-under 64 to move 17 under overall. Hebert is three shots clear of Mikko Korhonen (65) and Jorge Campillo (68).

Second-round leader Wu Ashun dropped to fourth place after an even-par 72.

Kuang qualified for the China Open by winning the China Junior Match Play Championship in December, and has been playing in China-based events in the PGA Tour Series. He is still at school and says he manages to get in only about 15-20 hours of practice a week. He said he was underprepared heading into the China Open because he only recently completed his midterms.