Golf stars Shane Lowry and Tony Finau to headline postponed Hong Kong Open
- World top 20 players Lowry and Finau to bring sizzling end-of-year form to the city’s biggest golf tournament
- Thai stars Janewattananond and Aphibarnrat join a host of local players in January
In-form golf stars Shane Lowry and Tony Finau are confirmed to headline the 61st Hong Kong Open rescheduled for January 9, 2020.
Organisers had postponed the original event – set for November 28 – due to the city’s “ongoing level of social unrest”, but Irishman Lowry and American Finau look forward to opening the new year on the Hong Kong Golf Club’s notoriously tricky Composite Course.
“The Hong Kong Open will be my first event of 2020 and I’m hoping to use the tournament to kick-start what will be a very important year for me as I try to make the European Ryder Cup team next September,” said Lowry, who secured his first major title at the 2019 Open Championship in Northern Ireland in July.
Hong Kong Golf Open back on as flagship sporting event is confirmed for January
“I’m really excited about going back to play in the Hong Kong Open again. I haven’t played in Hong Kong for a few years now,” added the 32-year-old five-time European Tour winner, who played at the Open back in 2010.
Finau, who played alongside captain Tiger Woods in Team USA’s victorious outing at the Presidents Cup last week, will make his Hong Kong debut in January.
“I’m looking forward to competing in my first Hong Kong Open. I’ve heard great things about the tournament and Hong Kong Golf Club, and I’m excited to see it all first-hand to start the year,” said the 30-year-old 2016 Puerto Rico Open winner.
Asian Tour stars and Thailand’s top golfers Atwit “Jazz” Janewattananond and Kiradech Aphibarnrat will also be sharing the Fanling course next year.
Hong Kong Golf Open postponed amid ongoing anti-government protests
Janewattanandond, who holds the record for youngest golfer to make an Asian Tour cut as a 14-year-old in 2010, won this year’s Asian Tour Order of Merit having broken into the world’s top 50. The five-time Asian Tour tournament winner scooped the BNI Indonesian Masters last Sunday.
Aphibarnrat, the four-time European Tour winner who is fondly nicknamed “The Asian John Daly”, will also be looking to better his seventh-place Open finish in 2011.
Brushing shoulders with the world’s best will be local Hong Kong Golf Association players Matthew Cheung, Alan Gibson, Isaac Lam, Shinichi Mizuno, Terrence Ng, Lou Tan, Jason Hak, Taichi Kho, Leon D’Souza, Ben Wong, Alexander Yang and Motin Yeung.
