Making an Impact

Tournament of the Year

There's absolutely no doubt that 2015 was a banner year for golf in Hong Kong, with five elite-level events – three professional and two amateur – held in the SAR.

The year started with a bang when Asian Tour regular Unho Park made a bit of history by winning the Ageas HKPGA Championship for the fourth consecutive year to establish a new record. Young Hong Kong pro Mickey Chan impressed many and made Park fight for the title the whole way before earning third spot, a shot behind another Asian Tour player, Scott Barr.

Next came the 37th staging of the Queen Sirikit Cup – the Asia-Pacific Ladies Golf Team Championship – which was held over the New Course at Fanling in June and saw Korea triumph by some margin [see Team of the Year below].

Just one month later, the venerable Old Course was the venue for the inaugural Hong Kong Ladies Open, a US$120,000 professional event sanctioned by the LPGA of Taiwan and the Ladies Asian Golf Tour. Made even more notable by the fact that all six Hong Kong amateurs in the field ended up making the cut, the event was won in fine style by Korea's Lee Jeong-hwa.

Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club welcomed the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, the world's most televised amateur golf event, in early October and saw China's Jin Cheng, a strapping and highly talented 19-year-old, book his place in the Masters Tournament at Augusta National after the final round had to be cancelled because of high winds and heavy rain.

Each of these tournaments proved overwhelmingly successful in their own right, but the prize in this particular category must go to the revitalized Hong Kong Open. Title-sponsored by UBS for the first time since 2012 and supported by the Government's Mega Events Fund, the Open was well and truly back to its best after two somewhat fallow years. The sun shone, record crowds descended on Fanling and Justin Rose fended off the unheralded Lucas Bjerregaard on an enthralling final day to win on just his second appearance in Hong Kong.

Well done UBS. Well done the Mega Events Fund. And well done Justin Rose. Hope to see all three of you back towards the end of this year for the 2016 edition.

Winner: UBS Hong Kong Open.