SHANGHAI -- Four players shared the early first-round lead after 4-under 68s, with more than half of the 120 starters having completed their rounds at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at the Sheshan International Golf Club on Thursday.
Jun Min Lee of South Korea, Ren Yonezawa of Japan, Hong Kong's Shuai Ming Wong and Lin Yuxin of China were those on top of the leaderboard midway through the first round.
The winner receives an invitation to compete in the Masters and the British Open, while the runner-up gets a place in final qualifying for The Open.
Earlier Thursday, tournament officials said the tournament would return to Royal Melbourne in 2020 for the second time.
The event will be held from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1, 2020. When it was held at Royal Melbourne in 2014, it was won by Australian Antonio Murdaca.
The Asia Pacific Golf Confederation, the Masters Tournament and the R&A, who run the tournament, made the announcement from Shanghai.