The 31-year-old Liao is the Tour’s in-form player. Luxehills was his third successive top-two finish after he shared second place in May’s Shanghai Championship and then secured his maiden Tour victory in the following week’s Sofitel Golf Championship in Nanjing, beating Zhang in a play-off.

　　There are now just two events left, with Tianjin offering RMB150,000 to the winner before the season concludes with the Omega Championship in Beijing.

　　Along with Li and Liao, the other main pre-tournament favourites at the Tianjin Yangliuqing Golf Club include big-hitting Yuan Hao, who finished third at Luxehills and lies fifth in the Omega Order of Merit, and Chan and Hsu of Chinese Taipei.

　　The two compatriots finished as joint runners-up in the season-opening Guangzhou Championship in their debut appearance on Tour. Both also had top-five finishes at the Dell Championship, while Hsu went on to win his first title on Tour at the Shanghai Championship.

　　A further boost for the Tianjin Championship is the second successive Tour appearance of the China National Team, who are in the middle of extensive tournament preparation ahead of October’s World Amateur Team Championships for the Eisenhower Trophy in Australia.

　　At Luxehills, 21-year-old Zhang Xinjun, 16-year-old Benny Ye Jianfeng and 26-year-old Kevin Huang Wenyi finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, while David Wei Wei, also 26, finished joint-ninth.