The youngest player in the field – 18-year old China-born Yanhan Zhou – brilliantly climbed his way to the top on the opening day of the Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbuhel.
Zhou, who only turned 18 last month, is the youngest DP World Tour member this season but he belied his inexperience brilliantly eagling his closing hole in muscling his way to the top of the leaderboard thanks to an eight-under 62, one shot ahead of Portuguese Ricardo Gouveia.
Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello, who captureAustria’s national open to claim his first DP World Tour title in 2009, is in a six-way share of third place alongside Marcel Schneider, Tobias Jonsson, Davis Bryant, Lucas Bjerregaard and Brandon Robinson Thompson.
Though on a day of clear and sunny skies, Zhon shone brightly in standing the tallest on the host Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith – the DP World Tour’s 465th and newest venue.
THE YOUNGEST STANDS THE TALLEST #AustrianAlpineOpen
As 1⃣8⃣ year old China senstation Yanhan Zhou leads the way in Kitzbuhel
“I’m just here for normal things,” he said. “I’m the youngest player on the Tour so I just want to play good golf”.
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— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) May 28, 2026
Zhou has 11 wins on the China Tour, with seven of those coming last season as he romped to the Order of Merit title as a 17-year-old, and he has already shown his potential on the global stage with a tie for third on home soil at the Volvo China Open.
While he is yet to shine so far during the European Swing in Spain and Belgium, he appears to be finding his feet in impressive fashion in his rookie campaign.
“There are no goals for me, I just want to keep improving myself in the golf skills and the mindset.”
Starting at the tenth, he made three birdies in a four-hole stretch from the 13th that also included his only bogey of the day over his first nine holes.
He then birdied his opening three holes of his back nine, added another gain at the sixth before saving his best to last by holing an eagle putt at the ninth to claim the outright lead.
“I hit it really good today, very solid,” he said. “I only made one bogey, which is very nice and I made so many putts, I think I’m just a little bit lucky today.
“On my last hole, the ninth, I just hit a perfect three-wood shot and another perfect shot on the green. I holed a 30-foot putt up the hill and that was just my day.”
A seven-time HotelPlanner Tour winner, he bounced back from his lone bogey of the round at the third to card four birdies on both nines from then on in as he credited his putting as intrumental.
“You have got to hit fairways to create chances, I did that,” he said.
“When I missed the fairways, I was able to either knock it on the green and two putt or get it up and down.
“The difference was the putter. I holed a lot of good putts, that’s why my score was so low.”
