High-profile Hong Kong Open champions are incredulous the government is seriously considering taking some – if not all – of Hong Kong Golf Club for housing redevelopment.
Four-time winner Miguel Angel Jimenez almost choked on his trademark cigar when told the historic Fanling courses could be put to the bulldozer to make way for 5,000 homes.
Champion in 2010 Ian Poulter said it would be “simply tragic” if the courses were lost, while a spokesman for four-time major winner Rory McIlroy said he would not comment on a political issue, but made his opinion clear on golf courses being threatened.
Miguel Angel Jimenez has played at Fanling in Hong Kong may times. Photo: AFP
The debate over resuming private recreational sites is raging again, with the Hong Kong Golf Club in the crosshairs, but a Task Force on Land Supply has again postponed discussion on carving up one – or all three – of the courses on the 170-hectare site at Fanling.
The charismatic and highly popular Jimenez said: “Why can’t they find land elsewhere to build their houses? Who will live in the new houses? People from the other side of the border, no? But these are not local people.
