Major
HKGA | NEWS
Showing Double defending Hong Kong Seniors Close champion Doug Williams qualifies for the US Senior Open following a gutsy play-off win in Hawaii, writes Alex Jenkins.
H
ong Kong G ol f Club member Doug Williams will become only t he second local golfer in history to play in a major championship when he tees off in this month’s US Senior Open at Oak Tree National in Oklahoma.
Daniel Wong (action); courtesy of the Hawaii Golf Association (qualifying)
Williams, 56, successfully came through sectional qualifying in Hawaii, where he beat local professional legend David Ishii in a play-off to earn the sole qualifying spot. He had earlier fired a one-under-71 over the Waialae Country Club course in Honolulu (venue for the PGA Tour’s annual Sony Open) to tie with Ishii, and held his nerve to par the first sudden-death hole, which his rival could only bogey. Fellow HKGC member Jock Mackie played in the 1959 Open Championship, which was held at Muirfield in East Lothian, Scotland. “It’s a big thrill,” said Williams, who has dominated the local senior golfing scene since turning 55 last year. “I had been planning a trip
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HK GOLFER・JUL 2014
Williams in action earlier this season in Hong Kong; moments after his play-off victory in Hawaii (below)
“I had to get new irons … lucky for me they worked” to play the German and French Senior events in the first two weeks of July, and had actually entered both, but decided to wait until after the US Open qualifier to buy my air ticket, which ended up being a smart move.” The scratch handicapper left Hong Kong in May to play a series of events in the United States and has been in a rich vein of form ever since. The day after arriving in Los Angeles he played in the Long Beach Senior City Championship and ended up finishing second for the second successive year. He then followed up that showing with a fifth place, alongside his brother Jim, in the Northern California Senior Four-Ball Championship before journeying to Hawaii for business. A lastminute decision to enter the 106th Manoa Cup (the state match play championship and one of the oldest golf tournaments in the States) proved fruitful as Williams dispatched a series of opponents, all of whom were at least 25 years his junior, to reach the semi-finals, where he went down 4 and 3 to Isaac Jaffurs. “I went 4 down after four holes, which was hard to make up, especially since my putting deserted me and I started missing everything,” said Williams. “But generally in the matches I played well. I hit lots of fairways and greens in regulation and was under par in most of my matches. “I had to get new irons – Ping i15s to replace my Ping i3s – to conform to the new groove policy, and the Manoa Cup was the first time I ever used them. Lucky for me they worked.” HKGOLFER.COM