Hong Kong Open: Alexander Yang goes five-under for the tournament as record-breaking Hong Kong players flourish at Fanling
- High-schooler Yang sinks three birdies in the last three holes to fire a 67 and go tied-19th for the round
- D’Souza and Ng to pair off at two-under while Yeung finishes three-over for the day
Hong Kong's record-breaking golf quartet put on a show in the third round of the Hong Kong Open on Saturday.
Alexander Yang, Terrence Ng, Leon D’Souza and Motin Yeung made tournament history after making the weekend cut – the most local players ever to do so in one go. The maximum number of Hong Kong players to make the cut at previous editions is one.
The 17-year-old amateur Yang continued his fine run of form, finishing three-under for the day and going five-under overall. The Open debutant sunk three birdies in a row in the final three holes at Fanling's composite course to tie for 19th place.
“I'm pretty happy – I struck the ball pretty much as well as I did the past two days,” said Hong Kong-born Yang. “I'm really happy that I got the putter rolling at the end for the strong finish. Hopefully it continues into tomorrow.”
Yang, a fresh Hong Kong Golf Association (HKGA) recruit and Stanford University student-to-be, was not surprised by his impressive showing despite the Open being his first big professional tournament.
“I wouldn't say it was outside my expectations. I came here looking to win and obviously I'm quite a bit back but I still played really solid throughout the week. [The other players] are all really impressive in terms of all-round skill – it's just something you don't usually see in junior golf – so it's relatively eye-opening for me. Tomorrow I'm just going to try and shoot as low as I can.”
Local favourite Ng improved on his previous rounds to go two-under-par for the tournament. The 25-year-old was delighted to have finally made the cut at his home event and set another target for Sunday.
“It's my first time making it to the weekend so I already met my small target of making the cut. It was more relaxing so I went out there and had fun,” said Ng, who will officially turn professional next week. “I just looked at my scores and I need to try harder. I need to go for the top 30.
“I will do the same as before: hit more fairways and be more tactful with space. If you don't stick to your game plan or try to go too aggressive and hit a bad shot, you’ll get punished pretty hard.”
Fellow teammate D'Souza also finished one-under on Saturday and two-under for the tournament. The amateur could not match his spectacular long-distance putt on the 18th on Friday and was seen shaking his head having parred the same hole this time around.
“I'm still not making as many putt as I would like to, but I know the numbers are out there and I'm not dropping. I'm happy with the way I'm playing,” said the 21-year-old D'Souza, who also made the cut in 2017.
Trailing the pack was PGA Tour Series-China star Motin Yeung, who struggled to maintain his score of one-over in round two. The 26-year-old finished at three-over for the day with a 73. He’s four-over for the tournament.
The players will tee-off in order from highest to the lowest score throughout the day.
