Former Olympic gymnastics champion Li Xiaoshuang partnered with Japan's professional golfer Ryuji Imada to win the inaugural Mission Hills Star Trophy?in Haikou?on Friday.
The ground-breaking celebrity golf pro-am tournament, being held from October 28-31, features eight Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, Hollywood movie star Catherine Zeta-Jones, British actor Hugh Grant, as well as local celebrities, such as movie director Feng Xiaogang and actor Chen Daoming.
A total of 18 groups, consisting of a celebrity, a professional golfer and three amateurs in each, competed two rounds during the first two days. Li's group came from behind to win the 36-holes competition with a 21-under 125, grabbing 14 birdies in the second round.
Phelps was not as versatile as in the water, only finishing second from the bottom together with his partner Laura Davies.
Dutch soccer legend Ruud Gullit became the runner-up under the "help" of China's golfer Kong Weihai. Though golf occupies most of Gullit's life since he hung up his foots, he is still concerned about soccer.
Gullit admitted his former club AC Milan were "always in his heart" as he said he would relish a return to management. The 48-year-old was part of the hugely successful Milan side of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The weekend play will then be in four-ball stroke play format between 18 teams consisting of a celebrity and a professional, with a 36-hole individual professional event running simultaneously on the Blackstone Course. The pro event offers a 1.28-million-U.S.-dollar champion prize, the richest individual prize in Asian golf.