I am writing this having just watched Rory McIlroy utterly dominate the US Open. It was a fantastic performance by a hugely talented young player; how wonderful it would be if one day a Hong Kong golfer would be in such a position. Fanciful thinking maybe, but let's remember that Northern Ireland's population is not even half of our wonderful city. Maybe the dream of having a locally-born major champion isn't so farfetched after all.
As the newly-elected president of the Hong Kong Golf Association I must thank our immediate past president, Ning Li, and last year's Executive Committee for all their efforts for what was another good year for the HKGA. Building on the foundations set by our most recent presidents – including Rick Siemens and William Chung – the HKGA continues to go from strength to strength in its efforts to help promote the highest level of amateur golf and junior development. I look forward to working with the Executive Committee, our junior development staff, our international squad and all our sponsors – most significantly, EFG Bank, sponsors of the junior development programme – over the next 12 months to continue the good work and further enhance the role of the HKGA in local golf.
As we look back on the year passed, there have been a number of highlights, including our first Asian Games appearance. While we did not place among the medals, this was an invaluable experience for our young teams and there were some credible individual performances. Junior golf continues to supply us with hope, as witnessed by many notable achievements over the past year.
Liu Lok-tin's magical displays in winning both the Hong Kong Close and Open Amateur tournaments – the first time ever by a Hong Kong-born golfer – was something we are all very proud of. As was Tiffany Chan's continuing success in ladies' golf tournaments. Lok Tin and Tiffany, along with many others, give us plenty of home for the future and we look forward to seeing their talent continuing to blossom.
This year will also see several opportunities in the region for our elite Amateurs to shine; the Nomura Cup in Fiji and our own hosting of the Putra, Santi and Lions Cups in September being prime targets. As the hosts, we naturally look forward to putting on a first-class event and are confident our representatives will do us proud. I'm sure I'm speaking for the team in encouraging as many people as possible to come out to Clearwater Bay Golf Club and support them in their efforts.
In December, we'll be hosting the UBS Hong Kong Open once again, and I'm sure we'll attract some of the biggest names in golf. I'm delighted to hear that McIlroy will once again be joining us. After his US Open heroics, maybe he can finally conquer the Composite Course at Fanling. We must again thank UBS for their sponsorship of the event and also the Government for their great help in promoting the tournament this year. The funds that the government have committed to help support the event will not only bring in a stronger field and push the event's profile in the region, but will also help further increase the profile of Golf in Hong Kong at the grass roots level.
All in all we have a very busy year ahead of us, and I look forward to working with everyone to making sure we have another great 12 months. Happy golfing to all of you. —David Hui President HKGA
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