Liu Leaves it Late

Chinese Taipei’s Liu Yu-jui claimed the Hong Kong Open Amateur Championship – and with it a coveted spot in next month’s Hong Kong Open – in one of the closes finishes in the tournament’s 82-year history late September.

Twenty-two year-old Liu, who finished a distant second to England’s Edward Richardson at the 2012 edition of the event, posted a three-round total of 211 (one-over-par) over the New Course at Fanling to pip Singapore’s Marc Ong by a shot. Ong’s compatriot Jerome Ng finished a further stroke back in third while the in-form Doug Williams was Hong Kong’s best performer, three steady rounds earning the 55-year-old solo fourth.

Liu had started the final round of the weather-delayed event one-stroke behind Ong but failed to make much headway as the 17-year-old Singaporean played almost faultless golf. Indeed, after a birdie at the par-5 14th, a hole that Liu could only par, Ong had extended his lead to three shots and had the trophy all but in his grasp.

But then disaster struck.

The 15th, a dogleg left par-4, might only measure 395 yards off the tips but it has caused all sorts of problems for players over the years – most notably perhaps Scotsman Simon Yates, who got caught up in the trees flanking the left side of the fairway and made a triple bogey to lose his lead in the closing stages of the 2005 Hong Kong Open, which was eventually won by Colin Montgomerie. Ong fared no better. An ugly seven, the result of his own entanglement with foliage, dropped him back into a share of the lead alongside Liu, with Ng just a shot of the pace. After regulation pars on 16 and 17 and with only a shot separating the top three players, the championship looked destined to be determined by a play-off.