When the GolfJoy Women's Open tees off on Thursday on the Olazabal Course at Mission Hills Golf Club in Guanlan, just outside of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, the 800,000 yuan ($116,137) tournament will play host to a tight competition as the first full-field event of the 2026 CLPG Tour season.

Wang Zixuan goes into it as the defending champion after winning her maiden title last year by one stroke on the Mission Hills Leadbetter Course.

Wang is now playing abroad after an exceptional campaign last year on the CLPG Tour.

In March 2025, less than a year after turning pro, the then-17-year-old Beijing native carded a final round six-under-par 66 in wet conditions to beat overnight leader Lin Xin'en by one stroke for the GolfJoy Women's Open title and her maiden win in the paid ranks.

The teenager would go on to finish the season with five more top-10s, including two runner-up finishes, to become the top money winner for the CLPG Tour season. For her outstanding play, she was awarded with a full-time playing card on the Korea LPGA Tour (KLPGA) for the 2026 season.

Last week, in the first KLPGA Tour event of the season, the Rejuran Championship at Amata Spring Country Club outside Bangkok, Wang successfully made the cut to finish equal 67th.

With the KLPGA Tour playing its first tournament in South Korea this week, Wang, a Mission Hills-sponsored player, opted to skip the event to defend her GolfJoy Women's Open title.

"The KLPGA event I played in Thailand was a real opportunity to compete against their top players. They played very well. The competition was strong and I learned a lot. The atmosphere on the KLPGA is great, and the courses are very challenging. After playing to defend my title this week, I will immediately fly to Korea to continue my KLPGA schedule," said Wang, 308th on the Rolex World Rankings.

Despite being a Mission Hills-sponsored player and practicing regularly at the club, Wang said she was only now getting her first look at the Olazabal Course prior to the GolfJoy tournament. The par-72,6,472-yard layout, designed by Jose Maria Olazabal, the Spanish great who twice won the Masters, has hosted the World Cup of Golf on three occasions and has recently undergone renovations.

"This course is much more difficult than the Leadbetter Course. The undulations are significant. The greens have new grass that is a bit soft and doesn't hold the ball as well, which I believe will pose a major challenge for the players. In addition, there are many bunkers (151) on the Olazabal Course. The sand is very soft, so you need to adjust your approach when playing from them," she said.

"Even though I'm the defending champion, I'm not much different from the other players. It's a brand-new venue and it's very challenging. We're all starting from the same point."

Others in the 120-player field this week include Shi Yuli, the CLPG Tour Championship winner who is just getting over a hospital stay for high fever, rookie pro Xu Ying, a three-time winner last year, Thai veteran Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong, Hong Kong Olympian Tiffany Chan and Pang Runzhi who has posted wins in each of the last two seasons.

Driving participation

With 2026 marking the second edition of the GolfJoy Women's Open and also the eighth year that Shenzhen-based GolfJoy, a leading company in the field of indoor golf technology, has worked as a supplier of golf simulators to the CLPG Tour, Wei Qingfeng, secretary-general of the China Golf Association, said the collaboration was beneficial in promoting the digital innovation and development of the game in the country.

A recent CGA report listed the country's golfing population at approximately 5.4 million participants. The figure included about 720,000 core on-course participants and around 1.33 million indoor (golf simulator) participants.

"GolfJoy is also a strategic partner of the China Golf Association. In addition to supporting professional tournaments, it has actively contributed to the integration of data-driven teaching into the coach continuing education system and has sponsored the development of the China Golf Industry Report,"Wei said.

"These efforts have injected strong momentum into the integrated development and digital upgrade of China's golf industry."

With the CLPG Tour serving as a proving ground for Chinese players since its inception in 2009, providing a platform for champions like former world No 1 players Feng Shanshan and Yin Ruoning, in addition to several LPGA Tour regulars, including Wang Xinying, winner of last year's FM Championship, Wang Jijun, CEO and founder of GolfJoy said he believed it was his company's "responsibility and our commitment" to support the tour.

"Professional tournaments in China, whether on the men's or women's tours, respectively, represent the leading force of Chinese golf and play a vital role in driving the development of this sport," he said. "We also hope that more capable Chinese enterprises will join us in supporting the CLPG Tour.

"At their core, these tournaments create a pathway for professional players to grow, and provide them with a stage to showcase their talent. Without tournaments, there can be no stars — and without stars, a country's golf development cannot truly thrive.