Hong Kong Open: local golf talent in safe hands as Hong Kong Golf Association coaches search for ‘a Dustin Johnson or Lydia Ko’

High-performance manager Tim Tang and coach Gary Gilchrist delighted at Hong Kong quartet who made the Hong Kong Open cut

The pair welcome the US collegiate path and ready to unearth new local talent

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Tim Tang (left) with new HKGA recruit and Hong Kong Open star Alexander Yang. Photo: Handout

Published: 1:58pm, 12 Jan 2020Updated: 9:30pm, 12 Jan 2020

More than two years ago, the Hong Kong Golf Association’s (HKGA) freshly appointed high performance manager, Tim Tang, was elated to be greeting local amateur Leon D’Souza as he wandered off Fanling Golf Course knowing he had made the Hong Kong Open’s final rounds.

To have one Hong Kong player in contention for the Open’s latter rounds is already a rare sight in itself. Now Tang, one of the city’s most accomplished golfers, finds himself on the 18th hole congratulating an unprecedented four Hong Kong players who made the cut.

“I’m so happy to see so many guys have made the cut this year. It’s always nice to play in your home country and do well,” said Tang, who competed at the Open six times, making the cut twice in 2012 and 2013.

“I’m so proud of them because I’ve known all of them all for many years. To see them do well this week means so much to the HKGA and other local players. I mean, look at Terrence [Ng] – he’s home-grown and showed a lot of local guys that they can play at a high level. It hopefully pushes them all to inspire the younger ones to play at an Open or professionally in future,” he said.

While Tang insists it is a “team effort”, his unmatched experience as Hong Kong’s only professional golfer to receive full Asian Tour status undoubtedly made him an influential figure in the honing and development of Hong Kong’s golfing new gen.

Gary Gilchrist (right) with the Hong Kong players ahead of the Hong Kong Open. Photo: SCMP/Xiaomei Chen

The likes of Alexander Yang, D’Souza, Ng, Motin Yeung, Taichi Kho, Isaac Lam, Matthew Cheung, Lou Tan and Ben Wong have also been exposed to veteran coach Gary Gilchrist, who has worked with world number ones Feng Shanshan, Lydia Ko and Ariya Jutanugarn and flew in before the Open.