Augusta (United States) (AFP) – Chinese golfer Li Haotong battled through illness and into Masters contention with four consecutive birdies Friday, despite being so sick in the morning he could barely leave the bathroom. Speaking after his second-round 69 propelled him to just a shot off the clubhouse lead, Li admitted he was surprised to have even completed 18 holes, let alone reach the tournament midway point at four-under-par.
“I went to the toilet last night a lot of times, and this morning when I got to the golf course and was still feeling really bad and kind of, like, (living) in the toilet,” he told reporters. “I was feeling really, really bad. No energy, fuzzy, want to throw up something. I actually just planned to play a few holes, see how it goes,” he said. “If (I was) really sick, then I probably just decide not to. So glad I survived today.”
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Li, the top-ranked Chinese golfer and world number 84, birdied his second hole on Friday, but endured an otherwise shaky front nine including two bogies. Somehow he then pulled himself together and scored straight birdies on holes 13 through 16. Li sank a nine-foot putt on 13 to begin his hot streak, then nearly holed a 150-foot approach iron on 14 to leave himself a tap-in for birdie. Despite running his ball way off the back of the par-five 15th, Li threaded an extraordinary recovery wedge through the trees.
“I think the best moment is that number 15, the par-5,” he said. “I got the wind wrong. It was a super tough chip over there and I got something, like, incredibly up and down.” He then completed the run by barely missing a hole-in-one on the par-three 16th. “Especially after that four birdies, somehow I felt quite nice… Major makes me feel good,” he joked after.
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