Poulter leading after day 2 of China Challenge

Ian Poulter is leading the seven-city Shui On Land China Golf Challenge after the first four holes.

Playing against Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Chinese number one Liang Wen-chong, the players will play 18 holes over seven days at eight different courses.

Following the first two days at Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club and Jinsha Lake Golf Club, Poulter is at one-under-par while Liang and world number two Lee Westwood share second place at level-par. Rory McIlroy is at four-over-par having found the water at both holes on the opening day before carding a birdie and a bogey on day two.

Poulter said: "That was a perfect beginning. It was nice to get off to a good start with a birdie at the first hole and it's always nice to be in the lead. Whether there's four players or 150 players, I'd like to win.

"It's going to be a long week, especially looking at the number of flights and the mileage we're going to cover. The format of the event will make it difficult to get into a rhythm for each set of holes, but it's interesting and challenging."

The event is not all about the competition however as demonstrated by Poulter and McIlroy whilst on the range at Jinsha Lake.

Poulter said: "They're very excited about their golf over here in China and we had good fun on the range. Rory was at one end and I was at the other, and we ended up hitting shots and trying to get each group of fans to cheer louder than the other."

Lee Westwood is also big fan of golf in China and said: "Coming and playing in China continually amazes me, the appetite for golf. It's incredible. You visit cities you've never heard of and they have eight, nine, 10 million people, something like London. It really is an incredible country."

Next up for the players is Beijing where they will play at the Topwin Golf and Country Club as well as Jade Island International Golf Club.

The foursome will then make their way to Macau for the final holes at Caesars Golf Macau after stops at Red Flag Valley in Dalian, Sun Kingdom Golf Club in Chongqing and Long Island Golf and Country Club in Dongguan.