Tournament officials did everything they could to get play moving on Sunday, but the weather didn't cooperate. A lengthy suspension, due to high winds and rainfall, eliminated any hope of the tournament being completed before darkness and the call was made to cancel the round. Jin was declared the champion.
"This win just came so fast and so sudden," said Jin, who was swamped by his Chinese teammates, including Guan, who struggled at Clearwater Bay and was never really a feature. "I was ready for the round today, and unfortunately the weather didn't work out, [but] it's my pleasure to win this week. Going there [Augusta National Golf Club] next year is just amazing for me. I'm so excited and looking forward to it."
Although Ruffels was clearly disappointed not to have had the opportunity to play on Sunday, he showed he has as much class off the golf course as he does on it by praising Jin's performance in a press conference he shared with Davis.
"It's not hard to tell we're both pretty gutted," he said. "Obviously there's nothing we can do about the situation. The tournament did a great job in just trying to get us out there today. [But] credit to Jin; he played amazing this week. To back up eight-under [on day one] with those two rounds in some tough conditions ... He's a great golfer and an even better guy. I'm sure he's going to enjoy the experiences he gets from winning this tournament."
Although the AAC ended in somewhat unfortunate circumstances, the success of the event - and Hong Kong's hosting of it - was clear for all to see. In Jin, Clearwater Bay identified a truly deserving champion and it was fitting that Hong Kong enjoyed its best-ever set of results at the ACC, with three local players - Matthew Cheung (tied 39th), Leon D'Souza (46th) and Motin Yeung (tied 60th) - making the cut and putting on a show on home soil.
What a week!
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