Get to know Yanhan Zhou

Teenage sensation Yanhan Zhou has been causing quite a stir on the Asian Swing in his debut season on the DP World Tour.

The Chinese only turned 18 earlier this month but after a third-placed finish at the Hainan Classic presented by MAEXTRO, he is now flying high again at the Volvo China Open.

Here, we get to know the rising star a little better.

A family story

Yanhan, like so many professionals, was introduced to golf by his father but it is unlikely there are many golfing dads with a tale like Xunshu Zhou.

After working in the fields of rural China, he became a security guard at a golf course. From there he developed a love of the game, eventually going on to become a professional player himself.

His story has even been immortalised in print, forming a key thread of a 2014 novel by Dan Washburn titled The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream.

Xunshu welcomed son Yanhan into the world on April 5, 2008 and that would start another golfing journey......

Father and son

Yanhan first picked up a club at the age of three when Xunshu took him to the driving range and he was soon beating the adults in chipping and putting competitions.

Since then Xunshu has continued to act as both coach and caddie for his son and Yanhan is grateful to have him along for the ride.

“He is everything to me,” Yanhan told the DP World Tour last year. “He makes me work harder (as) my dad is a hard-working person. He is a good coach. I have learned so many things from him.”

“Throughout my life I’ve learned so much through golf,” added Xunshu. “It has changed my life.

“And through golf I was able to raise my child to where he is today. I feel very proud.”

Amateur success brings a Christmas present

Yanhan was already enjoying an impressive amateur and junior career in his homeland when remarkably, on Christmas Day 2022, he claimed a maiden professional win at the Chongqing Open aged just 14 - the victory of which he is still most proud.

“My first pro win, I made like a four-foot putt to force a play-off and I made the same distance to win the match," he said. "That encouraged me a lot."

He would rub shoulders with future GAP Rankings winner Wenyi Ding at the 2023 US Amateur before successfully defending his Chongqing Open title and, after winning the China Amateur Open a few weeks later, he entered the paid ranks for the 2024 China Tour season at 16.

Domestic dominance

In 2025 Yanhan claimed more wins than Scottie Scheffler.

The 2024 season had brought two victories - includng a third in a row in Chongqing - as Zhou finished third on the China Tour Order of Merit, just missing out on a place on the HotelPlanner Tour, but better was to come.

After making the cut at the co-sanctioned Volvo China Open and Hainan Classic, Zhou won the Chonqing Open for the fourth year in a row and never looked back, claming six more China Tour wins in 2025 to romp to the Order of Merit title and earn his place on the DP World Tour.

Zhou's China Tour victories

Rookie adventures

After making three starts in co-sanctioned events in his homeland across 2024 and 2025, Zhou made his debut as a DP World Tour member at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship in January 2026.

“I don’t have any goals because I’m so young," he told the DP World Tour at Royal Golf Club. "The only goal I have is to learn things from the tournaments because I have a long way to go. So what I want to do is learn things, not win however many tournaments.

"I’ll try to enjoy it. I have no expectations because it’s my first year. I’m looking forward to playing DP World Tour."

He missed the cut in Bahrain and in his next two starts in Qatar and Kenya but a return to home soil brought that impressive tie for third in Hainan.

"I'm very proud," he said. "I never thought I'd come in the top five this week. I just wanted to focus on every shot, every hole, and it was a good result."

Is even better to come this weekend?