Miguel Makes it Three

While it was the fast-finishing Fredrik Andersson Hed who ended the closest to Jiménez after 72 holes – the Swede was mighty unfortunate that his last-gasp birdie putt didn't lip into the hole rather than lip out – it was Michael Campbell, Matteo Manassero and Zhang Lian-wei which added the most intrigue to the "also-ran" story.

Manassero, a victor in Singapore the week before, making him the first teenager to win three times on the European Tour, appeared set to be Jiménez's closest challenger in the final round after a fantastic 64 on Saturday. Alas for the 19-year-old, who finished in a tie for second place at Fanling in 2010, two late bogeys scuppered his chance, but he'll surely be back – most likely as one of the favourites – next time around.

Midway through the third round it looked as though we had been transported back 10 years to 2002, given the leaderboard we were presented with featured not only the veteran Jiménez but also the 43-year-old Campbell and, even more surprisingly, the 47-year-old Zhang. The former Chinese number one plays an extremely limited schedule these days, but gave the record galleries plenty to cheer with a quite staggering display on the greens. Opening with successive rounds of 66, Zhang remained in contention on day three thanks to a putter that can only be described as red-hot. With his unorthodox swing, Zhang will never win any style awards, but his short game, over a course he knows so well, was exemplarily. It couldn't be sustained – the golfing gods are not that kind – but Zhang, who eventually finished in a tie for 15th after the batteries died on Sunday, would take away a lot from the week.

"I have many friends in Hong Kong, so this has been a special tournament for me," said the Shenzhen-based Zhang, who credited the then 59-year-old Tom Watson's performance at The Open in 2009 for inspiring his new-found love for the game. "This performance means a lot and, while I'm not happy with the final round, I'm pleased to have played some good golf this week."