Hong Kong Open: leading teen Alexander Yang still has homework due for weekend despite making record-breaking cut

Yang impresses with another one-under-par score for the day, breezing through the weekend cut

The 17-year-old jokes after going level with top 20 stars Shane Lowry and Tony Finau after round one

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Alexander Yang leads the Hong Kong team to the Hong Kong Open weekend. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 7:09pm, 10 Jan 2020Updated: 7:09pm, 10 Jan 2020

Hong Kong amateur golfer Alexander Yang may have made the Hong Kong Open cut on Friday – a spectacular feat given that this is the high school junior's “first big professional event” – but he has yet another pressing deadline to meet.

“I've completed my homework due up until [Thursday] but I have some homework due on Friday back at home,” said the 17-year-old Yang, who has lived in the US since the age of nine. “It was a little too rushed yesterday because I had to get it done before the round, but after the round it was a little easier. The time difference helps, too.”

Yang, who led Hong Kong's record-breaking pack of four in making this year’s cut, secured another one-under-par performance in round two at Fanling. The Hong Kong Golf Association's (HKGA) latest recruit finished at two-under overall, breezing through the cut.

“It's an awesome feeling to be leading the group and given that it's my first time, even better. I'm very excited to have made it to the weekend but I still have a lot to do to catch the guys at the top,” he said, adding that he will be sticking to his tournament ritual of getting a celebratory ice cream.

Alexander Yang in action at the second round of the Hong Kong Open. Photo: SCMP / K.Y. Cheng

Despite his very green professional tournament experience, the rookie insisted the pressure was on surrounding competitors.

“I stand by what I said [pre-tournament]. Being 17 and trying to beat the old guy, there's almost less pressure,” said Yang, who will be at Stanford University in two years' time. “I just have to keep in the mindset that it's every other tournament. It's just a bunch of guys playing – not anything else. My mindset it to win and as long as I'm focused on my game plan, I don't think anything else should be bothersome to me.”