Pressure takes its toll but China's Li enjoys the experience

ByReuters

Published 10/08/2020 at 06:38 GMT

Aug 10 (Reuters) - China's Li Haotong says he struggled to deal with the pressure of leading a major championship but is confident the experience will hold him in good stead as he continues his pursuit of a maiden PGA Tour victory.

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Li fired rounds of 67 and 65 to take the halfway lead at the PGA Championship, becoming the first mainland Chinese golfer to top the leaderboard in any round of a men's major.

But rounds of 73 and 69 over the weekend dropped him down to 17th on six-under-par, seven shots behind champion Collin Morikawa.

"Saturday was very stressful ever since I woke up... since I've never been there before," said Li. "I just felt super tired, not because of practice, but today I felt like everything was released.

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"I played really well until 16, missed a short birdie putt, and 18, I just want to go aggressive, try to make a birdie, and went a little bit left (into a penalty area). Yeah, it's great experience."

Li's best effort at a major remains the third-place finish he achieved at the British Open in 2017. (Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford )

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