Hong Kong, January 12: Barring Rashid Khan, thee Indian challenge slipped on the back nine as Australia’s Wade Ormsby won the Hong Kong Open for the second time. Ormsby cruised to victory by closing with a four-under-par 66 at the Hong Kong Golf Club on Sunday and Rashid was Tied-sixth.
Ormsby with an opening 65 followed by three 66s totalled 17-under 263 for a wire-to-wire victory while Rashid (70) was nine-under 271. SSP Chawrasia, who seemed to be in with a chance at one point in the tournament dropped two bogeys and a double bogey in last 10 holes and fell to five-under and T-22, while Shiv Kapur (71) also had three bogeys in last eight holes and finished T-18 at six-under.
Ajeetesh Sandhu (70) was T-41st, Rahil Gangjee (72) and S Chikkarangappa (72) were T-47th. Aman Raj (74) ended T-60.
Unlike his first win at the Hong Kong Open in 2017 where he won by a single shot, Ormsby enjoyed a more comfortable victory as he triumphed by four shots over Major champion Shane Lowry of Ireland, who carded a final round of 64.
The Australian did not get off to the best of starts when he stumbled with an opening bogey. However, he recovered quickly with three consecutive birdies from the second hole before adding another on nine to take a five-shot lead at the turn then.Ormsby birdied 11 but dropped another shot on 15 before another birdie on 17 effectively confirmed his wire-to-wire victory as he closed with a winning total of 17-under-par.
Lowry surmounted a late charge by storming up the leaderboard with a 64, having started the day six shots back of Ormsby in a share of ninth place. However, his gallant efforts were not enough to catch the Australian and he had to settle for second place.
Rashid third, Chawrasia seventh in Hong Kong
Hong Kong, January 11: There were three Indians in the Top ten at the end of the third day of the Hong Kong Open on Saturday. Rashid Khan (63) emulated SSP Chawrasia by bringing home a card of seven under 63 and rocketed to third place at nine-under 201. Chawrasia (69) dropped a bogey on the 18th and slipped to Tied-seventh at eight-under total. Shiv Kapur lapsed on the front nine with three bogeys in his 69 and was Tied-ninth at seven-under.
Rashid, who was not feeling too will on Tuesday seemed to have improved and is now in contention, though four shots behind leader, Wade Ormsby (66).
Australia’s Ormsby remained as the player to catch after he signed for a four-under-par 66 to head into the final round.
Of the other Indians, S Chikkarangappa (69) was Tied- 39thwhile Rahil Gangjee (69) and Ajeeteesh Sandhu (72) were Tied-45th. Aman Ran (72) was Tied-57thand Jyoti Randhawa was disqualified for turning in a wrong scorecard.
Thailand’s Gunn Charoeenkul (65) was second while Rashid, Terry Pilkadaris (64), Taewoo Kim (66) and Jazz Janewattananond (67) were Tied-third.
The man in form and on fire on Saturday was Rashid. He had eight birdies against just one bogey. He birdied third, fifth and sixth and dropped a shot on ninth, but then strung together four birdies in a row from 10thto 13thand added another on 18th.
Rashid said, “I came to this week on Tuesday feeling sick as well. So I wasn’t expecting to be in contention. I got better now and I told myself that I have played the course before and I should try my best to play well. Luckily, I did and I’m scoring well.”
He added, “It was the same thing for me the first two days too. I was hitting it really well and I hitting it close also but didn’t really hole any putts. Today, I hit the ball bad but still got a good result. I made a lot of birdies and I holed some really good putts.”
“When I played the last tournament, I was too tired from playing so many tournaments last year, especially at the end of the year. I had only like one week off.”
Chawrasia was finding it difficult to find fairways on Saturday and managed just six of the 14 as compared to 12 and 10 on the first two days. He needed 30 putts and had just three birdies against two bogeys.
Kapur also found only six fairways and only 53 per cent greens in regulation but putted decently with just 27 putts for his 69.
Chawrasia lies second at Hong Kong, Kapur is third
Hong Kong, January 10: India’s SSP Chawrasia shot a brilliant seven-under 63 on the second day to shoot up the leader board at the Hong Kong Open. Chawrasia, who was even par for the first day is now seven-under but two behind the 2017 champion Australia’s Wade Ormsby (66) who is nine-under for 36 holes at the Par-70 Hong Kong Golf Club.
As Chawrasia lit up the Hong Kong Golf Club with five birdies in his last nine holes, Shiv Kapur rode on the back of a fine run of three birdies in last five holes for a card of 66 that saw him move up to Tied-third at six-under.
Other Indians making the cut included Ajeeteesh Sandhu (70) who at three-under is T-19th, while Rashid Khan (69) is T-24that two-under. Aman Raj (68) and S Chikkarangappa (69) at T-34; Jyoti Randhawa (71) and Rahil Gangjee (69) at T-42 will also play the weekend rounds.
Missing the cut were Chiragh Kumar (70-72), Khalin Joshi (70-73), Jeev Milkha Singh (70-74) and Viraj Madappa (72-73)
Chawrasia, who led for three rounds only to relinquish his lead to Ormsby in the 2017 edition of the Hong Kong Open, is looking forward to redeeming himself. His flawless 63 included birdies on third, seventh, 10th, 11th, 14th, 16thand 18th.
He said, “I played well today. I made a couple of good putts and also mentally I was focussed. Two years ago, I went into the final round with the lead. So, I have some good memories there. I remembered playing very good then. I didn’t finish well and missed out on the win.”
He added, “I’m looking forward to the weekend and let’s see what happens. It’s a very good golf course. To be honest, I’m very familiar for this course. A good result will give me the confidence I need heading into the season.”
Kapur who finished his 2019 season with three top-10s in his last five events, including two tied seconds in the Panasonic Open India and the Thailand Open, said, “I am happy with the way I played given the blustery conditions yesterday morning and this afternoon. It’s been really hard to pick the wind out there. Overall, when you have a day like today where you go bogey free, you should be pretty pleased.”
“The course’s really well designed. It’s a short golf course and the greens are always the big defense out here. It’s been hard to get the ball close with the firm greens. I’m just glad the form is there and it’s not the other way.”
Ormsby, the 2017 Hong Kong Open champion, is bidding to win the tournament for the second time.
Australia’s Travis Smyth (68) is tied for third alongside Kapur and the Thai duo of Gunn Charoenkul and Jazz Janewattananond with their 134 total.
The weekend cut was set at one-over with 70 players progressing into the final two rounds.
Sandhu top Indian at sixth place in Hong Kong; Kapur 12th
Hong Kong, January 9: Ajeetesh Sandhu closed birdie-birdie to get into the Top-10 with a opening round of three-under 67 in swirling and windy blustery conditions at the season-opening Hong Kong Open on Thursday.
Sandhu, who had a decent season in 2019 with two runner-up finishes on Asian Tour and a win on domestic Indian Tour, is Tied-sixth and two shots behind the co-leaders, Australia’s Wade Ormsby and Japan’s Tomoharu Otsuki, who carded five-under-par 65 each.
Shiv Kapur was the next best Indian at two-under 68 and Tied-12th alongside Thai Jazz Janewattananond, who won the 2019 Order of Merit.
Two other Indians, Rashid Khan and Jyoti Randhawa turned in sub-par rounds of 69 each to be Tied-20th, as was the reigning Open champion Shane Lowry of Ireland and Tony Finau at the challenging Par-70 Hong Kong Golf Club..
Of the dozen Indians in the field, five of them, Chiragh Kumar (70), S Chikkarangappa (70), Khalin Joshi (70), Jeev Milkha Singh and SSP Chawrasia shot even par 70 each and were Tied-31st. Rahil Gangjee and Aman Raj (71) were Tied-49th and Viraj Madappa (72) was Tied-68th.
Sandhu with one birdie and one bogey was even par till the 11th, on a course, where the back nine starts on the 11th. He birdied 12th and 13th and then dropped a shot on 16th and then closed with 17th and 18th.
Kapur started on the 11th with a bogey and nothing else happened till he reached the third which he birdied. He added birdies on fourth and sixth but dropped a shot on eighth.
Kapur, making his 15th start inn Hong Kong in 16 years as a pro, began on the 11th and said, “Today was a tough day, you know the this was probably the toughest conditions I have played on this golf course, of all the years that I’ve been here. It was windy and cold and it was hard to pick where it’s coming from.”
“The wind was changing direction and you know in the trees it bounces around, so I think that was the main challenge today. I got off to a slow start and then nothing happened for my first 10 or 11 holes and then you know made three birdies in the space of four holes and managed to hang on.”
Ormsby, winner in 2017, made six birdies against one bogey. Ormsby’s two Asian Tour wins came at the Panasonic Open India and the Hong Kong Open in 2017.
Lowry said, “I played pretty good today. It was very, very tricky. The wind was quite strong and swirling an awful lot. I probably should have shot a couple of shots better but anything in the 60s today is pretty good. It’s a great golf course.”
