The 2017 Race to Dubai presented by Rolex continues with the UBS Hong Kong Open this week at the renowned Hong Kong Golf Club for what will be the last tournament of the calendar year….
Rewind
In October of last year, Justin Rose took the title for the first time, winning by a single stroke after a tense final round battle with Lucas Bjerregaard. The pair had been inseparable for two days at Hong Kong Golf Club, and went into the final day in a share of the lead. They remained neck-and-neck as they entered the back nine on Sunday, but a double bogey from Bjerregaard on the 14th proved crucial and Rose came home in 34 to get to 17 under and win a European Tour title for the fourth season in a row.
“When you separate yourself from the field like we did, it's probably a tough one for him to lose. But he didn't lose it, just both of us played incredibly well and separated from the field,” said Rose.
Bite-sized history
First played in 1959, the UBS Hong Kong Open is the region’s longest-running sporting event and many of the world’s greatest golfers have won the tournament, including Bernhard Langer, José María Olazábal, Kel Nagle, Greg Norman, Peter Thomson, Tom Watson, Pádraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie, and Ian Woosnam. In 2008, Florida-based Hong Kong amateur, Jason Hak, became the youngest player ever to make the cut in a European Tour event, at 14 years and 304 days, eclipsing the record set by Sergio García at the Turespana Open Mediterrania in 1995.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Miguel Ángel Jiménez became the oldest golfer ever to win on the European Tour when he won in 2012 at age 48 years, 315 days, and extended his record by defending his title in 2013 at age 49 years, 337 days. In 2014 he became the first 50 year old to win in European Tour history, aged 50 years and 133 days, at the 2014 Open de España. Jiménez shares the record number of victories (four) in the UBS Hong Kong Open history books with Taiwan’s Hsieh Yung-yo, who won four Hong Kong Open titles between 1963 and 1977.
The Field
Olympic Champion Justin Rose, who has not played an official European Tour stroke play event since the US PGA Championship due to his ongoing recovery from a back injury, headlines a field comprising some of the biggest and most charismatic names from the European and Asian Tours. Masters Champion Danny Willett, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and former winners Jiménez and Ian Poulter lead a strong European contingent.
Scott Hend and Marcus Fraser, the top two on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, will be looking to finish the Asian Tour season in style, while Thongchai Jaidee and newly crowned Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Jeunghun Wang lead the Asian line-up. Add in a number of graduates from the 2016 Challenge Tour and Qualifying School, including Belgium’s Thomas Detry, who finished third in his first event since graduation in the Alfred Dunhill Championship last week, and the co-sanctioned tournament boasts a rich blend of international stars.
The Course
Founded in 1889 as the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club, the club originally played in Happy Valley, a location shared with many other activities. As the Club expanded, the need for a more permanent home was addressed with the building of a small 9-hole course at Deep Water Bay, before the Club eventually moved to its current location in Fanling, most of which is leased from the Hong Kong government.
According to the Club annals, the Deep Water Bay location opened in 1898 and the 18-hole Old Course was completed in 1911. To expand the facility in 1968, the club negotiated the lease of around 30 acres of land at Beas River with which it expanded the Eden Course into a full 18-hole championship course. The 'Royal' was dropped from the name of the club in 1996, in advance of the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China.
Did You Know?
• This year’s Hong Kong Open will be the 58th staging of the event. The tournament was first played in 1959 and won by Lu Liang-huan and is the longest running sporting event in Hong Kong.
• The Hong Kong Open is being played for the 16th time as part of the European Tour, since the 2002 season.
• Justin Rose will be looking to make the first successful defence of his European Tour career.
• In the 2014 season the event was played twice. The first playing was in December 2013. Miguel Angel Jiménez created history by becoming the oldest winner in European Tour history, aged 49 years and 337 days. He since when onto become the first 50 year old to win, at the 2014 Open de Espaňa, aged 50 years and 133 days.
• Miguel Angel Jiménez won the title for the fourth time in December 2013, following his triumphs of 2005, 2008 and 2012. His latest win equalled the record of four wins by Hsieh Yung-yo (1963-64, 75, 77), for most wins in the event.
• Should Miguel Angel Jiménez win the event for a fifth time he would become just the fourth player in European Tour history to win the same official event five times. He would follow Tiger Woods, (eight times – WGC Bridgestone Invitational and seven times – WGC–Mexico Championship), Tom Watson (five times – The Open Championship) and Bernhard Langer (five times – German Open).
• The event has a wonderfully rich history of former winners, including 11 Major Champions, who have won 30 Major Championships between them. They are: Peter Thomson (1960, 65, 67), Kel Nagle (1961), Orville Moody (1971), Greg Norman (1979, 83), Ian Woosnam (1987), Bernhard Langer (1991), Tom Watson (1992), José Maria Olazábal (2002), Padraig Harrington (2004), Rory McIlroy (2011) and Justin Rose (2015).
• The previous 57 editions of the Hong Kong Open have produced 46 different champions from 17 different countries.
• History was created in the 2009 Hong Kong Open (played in November 2008), when Jason Hak became the then youngest player to make a cut in a European Tour event, aged 14 and 304 days.
