Masters contender on the verge of withdrawing after spending entire night ‘on the toilet’

Haotong Li has battled through illness during the first two rounds of The Masters.

Yet, the world No. 84 somehow finds himself currently 4-under par and T5 at The Masters heading into round three.

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After opening with a 1-under 71, the Chinese golfer feared he would not be able to compete in round two at Augusta National.

This was because Li was struck with illness overnight, and was so sick that he was nearly forced to withdraw from the tournament entirely.

“[I went] to the toilet last night a lot of times,” Li said. “This morning when I got to the golf course [I was] still feeling really bad and kind of living in the toilet.”

“I didn’t hit many balls on the driving range. I was feeling really, really bad. No energy, fuzzy, want to throw up something,” he said.

“I actually just planned to play a few holes, see how it goes. If really sick, then I probably just decide not to.

“So I am glad I survived it today.”

Li surprised by current standing in leaderboard

The 30-year-old was making only his third Masters appearance, and his first start at Augusta since 2019, after his top-four finish at The Open last summer.

Not only did he complete all 18 holes of round two, but has also vaulted his way into contention for the Green Jacket.

Through sheer resilience to power through, Li landed four successive birdies from the 13th saw him finish with a three-under-par 69, putting him tied in seventh place entering the weekend’s play.

When asked whether he was surprised by his own performance on the course after his preparations were disrupted, Li’s answer was straightfoward.

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“I am, actually,” he said. “But especially after those four birdies, somehow I felt quite nice.

“Major making me feeling good.”

For the third round of action, Li is paired up with Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan (-4) in group 23, with a tee time of 19:06pm UK time (14:06pm local time).

As it stands, though, defending champion Rory McIlroy is the man to beat, who opened up a six-shot lead and enters round three at 12-under – the largest 36-hole lead in Masters history.

It will take some beating to knock the Northern Irishman off his pursuit of becoming just the fourth golfer to win back-to-back titles.

But Li will be seeking to do his part to put pressure on the leader going into the fourth and final round of action on Sunday.

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