Sense of heritage key to general manager Ian Gardner's vision for Fanling
After a stint away from Hong Kong, the former policeman is back and in charge at Hong Kong Golf Club
Ian Gardner can recall watching from beyond the ropes as the likes of Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer, Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam strode the fairways of Fanling during the 1980s and early 1990s.
These giants of the game were regular visitors to the Hong Kong Open and Gardner was among those transfixed by thoughts of how they would handle the course.
“The layout and difficulty of the composite course meant there was always excitement and usually a close and greatly contested finish,” recalls Gardner.
Gardner has now returned to the Hong Kong Golf Club, becoming general manager last November, with the role throwing the former policeman into a second stint in the city he first called home those few decades ago.
The layout and difficulty of the composite course meant that there was always excitement and usually a close and greatly contested finish
He’s kept watch while away – tuning in from the United States in 2011 as Rory McIlroy fired that shot for the ages from the bunker beside the 18th hole to claim the title – and is now preparing for his first Open as the man who has, in his own words, “overall responsibility for every aspect of the operation and maintenance of the club’s facilities and the management of the team of club employees”.