HK OPEN | PREVIEW
Setting the Stage
McIlroy showed his killer instinct at Fanling last year; but he’ll need to be at his best against a strong field, including Harrington (opposite) if he’s to retain his title
Rory’s back, along with a sprinkling of his Ryder Cup cohorts. But the world number one, a definite fan favourite at Fanling, won’t have things all his way with Matt Kuchar, Padraig Harrington and a host of European and Asian Tour stars also gunning for victory, writes Mathew Scott
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ou could easily imagine the pou nd i ng hea r t s a nd t he sweat y pa l m s of t he H K Golfer editorial team as we watched the clock and waited for news to come in from the government’s Mega Events Fund.
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McIlroy’s presence this year gives the joint European Tour-Asian Tour cosanctioned event the edge it deserves, in terms of attracting local and international attention and in terms of pure competition. There’s simply no better player doing the rounds and the 23-year-old world number one returns to our shores having added a US PGA Championship to his resume, as well as playing his part in Europe’s stunning, final-day turnaround to snatch the Ryder Cup out of expectant American hands at the Medinah Country Club course back in September. His presence also adds significant weight to an event that from next year will see its place as the penultimate event on the European Tour’s Race To Dubai snatched by the new US$7 million Turkish Open. What’s more, there’s no need for any PR-types to elbow McIlroy into talking up the charms of the Hong Kong Open or of the city that surrounds it. The man can’t seem to stop himself. “I have said it for a long time now that the Hong Kong Open is among my favourite tournaments anywhere in the world,” McIlroy said when announcing HK Golfer・NOV 2012
Daniel Wong (McIlroy); AFP (Harrington)
We knew – as fans around town did – that without a major cash injection into this year’s Hong Kong Open, there was little chance reigning champion Rory McIlroy would be returning to Fanling to defend his crown. The cold, hard economics of modern sport simply would not allow it. When UBS had announced in September that it would be returning as the event’s title sponsors for an eighth consecutive year, ensuring the Open would be offering prize money totalling US$2 million, the common consensus was that it was enough to ensure the city’s longest running professional sporting event would be again be able to lure a top-line field – which is has – but that it might not be enough to ensure the mop-topped Northern Irishman, now a twotime major champion, would be grinning down on them from billboards all over Hong Kong. But the great tease was finally consummated on October 10 when it was announced that the Open would receive HK$15 million from the MEF and it was no great surprise to very learn soon after that McIlroy had signed on the dotted line. Hurrah!
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“I absolutely love the city – it is just one of those places that has a great energy around it, and there is so much to do away from the golf course.” – Rory McIlroy he would be coming back to town. “I absolutely love the city – it is just one of those places that has a great energy around it, and there is so much to do away from the golf course.” In past years he’s kept himself pretty busy out on the course as well. Runner-up in 2008 and 2009, last year McIlroy survived Dengue fever,
and overcame the challenge thrown down by the likes of the long-hitting Spaniard Alvaro Quiros, who had led McIlroy by three strokes going into the final round.And what a way to win it was. Five birdies for the day – and three over the run in to the clubhouse. With a one-shot buffer on the last, McIlroy found himself bunkered by the green – and the blasted out and up and straight in for a birdie to seal the deal. McIlory’s wild celebrations were beamed into households across the globe and from the new king to his Twitter followers was bestowed the following piece wisdom: “Winner winner chicken dinner”. “I think that’s the most excited I’ve ever been on a golf course,” said McIlroy, once the iPhone had been put in its rightful place. “It was just incredible to see the ball drop and realise that I had won this tournament. I played my first Hong Kong Open in 2007 and I felt like it owed me something after losing the play-off [to Taiwan’s Lin Wen-Tang] in 2008. To get my hands on this trophy and to win this tournament is very special.” McIlroy returns then with his game in rude health, what with that eight-stroke victory at the US PGA (matching his eight-stroke win at the US Open the year before), three other tournament victories, and the sound of champagne corks still popping in his ears after that stunning Ryder Cup success. McIlroy is trying to become the first backto-back winner of the Hong Kong Open since Hsieh Yong Yo of Taiwan made it two in a row in 1964. And while any threat to his reign is sure to have organisers peeping meekly between their fingers, the main challenge is expected to come from a man who was part of that historic Ryder Cup competition – and who must still be asking himself “How?”
AFP
Olazábal, the 2001 Hong Kong Open champion (top), returns to the Hong Kong Golf Club alongside twotime winner Miguel Angel Jiménez (right) 30
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UBS Hong Kong Open Past Winners
“The strength of the field is impressive and Rory’s record in the tournament is even more impressive, so it’s going to be tough to win my first European Tour title but I’m certainly going to give it my best shot.” – Matt Kuchar
AFP
Kuchar, who won the prestigious Players title on the PGA Tour earlier this year (top), has what it takes to become the first American winner of the Hong Kong Open since Gary Webb in 1995 32
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World number 13 Matt Kuchar was on the losing side at Medinah but took two points out of a possible three for the Americans and he arrives in the city for the first time following a season that has seen the 34-year-old, four-time PGA Tour winner chart a course from the sublime (a two-stroke victory at The Players Championship) to the slightly ridiculous (victory at last month’s hit-and-giggle Mission Hills World Celebrity Pro-Am). “The strength of the field is impressive and Rory’s record in the tournament is even more impressive, so it’s going to be tough to win my first European Tour title but I’m certainly going to give it my best shot,” said Kuchar. Adding to the Ryder Cup flavour at Fanling this year will be the victorious captain José María Olazábal – a winner here in 2001 – along with European team member Paul Laurie and vice-captain Miguel Angel Jiménez.Jiménez, a Fanling winner in 2004 and 2007, never fails to find himself in the mix in Hong Kong – on the course and off – and another former champion in Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (2004) returns with the three-time major winner looking to build on a return to form over a past year that has seen him in contention at both the Masters (where he finished tied for eighth) and the US Open (tied for fourth). Other big name signings for the 2012 edition include John Daly, who certainly enjoys the Composite Course at Fanling – he shot a brilliant final-round 62 there in 2008 – as well as a cast of the European and Asian Tour’s leading lights.
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Rory McIlroy NIR Ian Poulter ENG Gregory Bourdy FRA Lin Wen-Tang TPE Miguel Angel Jimenez ESP Jose Manual Lara ESP Colin Montgomerie SCO Miguel Angel Jimenez ESP Padraig Harrington IRE Fredrik Jacobson SWE Jose Maria Olazabal ESP Simon Dyson ENG Patrik Sjoland SWE Kang Wook Soon KOR Frank Nobilo NZL Rodrigo Cuello PHL Gary Webb USA David Frost RSA Brian Watts USA Tom Watson USA Bernhard Langer GER Ken Green USA Brian Claar USA Hsieh Chin-Sheng TPE Ian Woosnam WAL Seichi Kanai JPN Mark Aebli USA Bill Brask USA Greg Norman AUS Kurt Cox USA Chen Yze-Ming TPE Kuo Chi-Hsiung TPE Greg Norman AUS Hsieh Yong-Yo TPE Hsieh Min-Nan TPE Ho Ming-Ching TPE Hsieh Yong-Yo TPE Lu Liang-Huang TPE Frank Phillips AUS Walter Godfrey NZL Orville Moody USA Isao Katsumata JPN Teruo Sugihara JPN Randall Vines AUS Peter Thomson AUS Frank Phillips AUS Peter Thomson AUS Hsieh Yong-Yo TPE Hsieh Yong-Yo TPE Len Woodward AUS Kel Nagle AUS Peter Thomson AUS Lu Liang-Huang TPE
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