Volvo China Open Each-Way Tips: 21/1 Keita Nakajima can win again

• Japan's Keita Nakajima looks a touch over-priced

• Well-travelled Andreas Halvorsen can enjoy China

• Frenchman Benjamin Hebert can build on his form

The history of golf in China is a peculiar one.

Whisper it if you are among any Scots, but there are some who argue that the earliest form of the game was played in China.

It was called Chuiwan and was a stick and ball game. There is evidence of it being played as far back as 1000 AD.

The modern day game we know as golf struggled to grow in China for most of the 20th century because, as in the Soviet Union, the authorities considered it a petit bourgeois triviality.

But, again like the Soviets, as the last century neared its end the Chinese began to relent and in 1984 Arnold Palmer designed a course in Zhongsan.

The sport boomed in the 90s and early 2000s only for another turnaround: courses came to be viewed as wastes of public money, a waste of public space, and membership of clubs unnecessary displays of extravagance.

Perhaps it was those unnecessary displays of extravagance that prompted the naming of last year's host venue, Hidden Grace. Whatever, the tournament has moved again and to an equally intriguing location - the Enhance Anting GC in Shanghai.

It was built in 2005 and designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr.

He was also responsible for the likes of US Open host Chambers Bay while he also created the original Celtic Manor Wentwood Hills layout that became the 2010 Ryder Cup course.

On the DP World, Challenge, and Asian Tours Bro Hof Slott, Damai Indah, Miklagard, Moscow, Ta Shee, The Mines, Al Badia, Santiburi Samai, and Yalong Bay have been used.

Most recently Lubker hosted the Danish Golf Championship and Alcanada is the frequent home of the Challenge Tour Grand Final.

Main Bet: Keita Nakajima 1pt each-way @ 21/1

The Japanese 24-year-old was a mightily impressive amateur and won on his home professional tour when still yet to join the pro ranks.

That win came in 2021 and he won three times when he got his card in 2023.

The form earned him a DP World Tour card and he quickly landed victory in last spring's Indian Open.

He didn't do a great deal in the rest of the year but he did finish sixth at Green Eagle, a course favoured by fine players in China, and seventh at Jumeirah in the Tour Championship, a sign of his quality (up against a high quality field).

In his last two outings, he has been second at Laguna National in the Singapore Classic and then second again on defence of his Indian Open title.

He has experience of an RTJ Jr track in Japan called Kochi Kuroshio. He was T14 in 2021, eighth in 2022, and fourth in 2023.

I'd have him 16/1 or shorter this week.

Next Best: Andreas Halvorsen 1pt each-way @ 110/1

Brandon Robinson-Thompson makes appeal again this week with continued good form and a win on an RTJ Jr design.

Shaun Norris also has an excellent RTJ Jr record (win at Wild Coast Sun, second at Kochi Kuroshio) and is in fine form.

Both are about right in price but I might keep an eye on any Wednesday rises on the exchange.

For some each way value I'll kick off with Andreas Halvorsen.

The well-travelled Norwegian made the last eight of the US Amateur, and has top 10s on minor tours in Argentina, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Chile, the US, Mexico, Ecuador, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and France.

He was a winner in Denmark last year on the Challenge Tour and has impressed with fifth in the Mauritius Open and sixth last time out in the Indian Open the highlights. In-between he was second on the Challenge Tour.

He didn't play the DP World Tour's Danish Golf Championship at Lubker but he was second there in the third tier Nordic League's UNICEF Championship at that RTJ Jr layout.

And he was eighth at Alcanada last November after being close to last after round one - his weekend rounds of 64-67 were comfortably the best of the field.

Final Bet: Benjamin Hebert 1pt each-way @ 110/1

Twice a winner of three Challenge Tour titles in the same year (in 2011 and 2014), the Frenchman Ben Hebert couldn't quite find the win on the main tour when in a career sweet spot.

That was 2019 when the poor fellow contrived to lose three play-offs on the DP World Tour (and the first of those came in this tournament at Hidden Grace).

He's landed four top 25 finishes this season, three of them in his last four starts in Qatar, Kenya, and India.

In Kenya he shared the 18 hole lead, was second at halfway and fourth with 18 holes to play.

Back in 2014 he won at Miklagard and also at Al Badia - both of them, of course, RTJ Jr layouts.

The young Dane Jacob Skov Olesen came close to the final spot but we'll take the Frenchman instead.

Now read Steve Rawlings' preview of the China Open.

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