Hong Kong Golf Club housing plan could bring end to professional tournaments in city, government warned

Hong Kong will press ahead with redeveloping 32 hectares of the city’s premier golf course, despite warnings from two leading figures that doing so could put an end to professional tournaments being held there.

In a letter outlining his organisation’s opposition to the building of 12,000 public housing flats on nine hectares at Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling, Asian Tour boss Cho Minn Thant urged officials to reconsider, hinting it could mean the end of the Hong Kong Open after next year’s event.

Cho said claims top-flight golf would remain at the venue, even if the proposed change in usage for the car park and holes one through six of the Old Course went ahead, were “simply untrue”, and added the city was risking its sporting reputation.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho previously said the redevelopment would not “affect our drive in promoting golf in Hong Kong” and the government was “fully committed to implementing this project”.

And on Saturday, the Development Bureau doubled down on its insistence that the project would go ahead, while a government spokeswoman pointed to the remaining 140 hectares of land containing two 18-hole courses and 10 holes of a third that would survive.

“To address the acute housing shortage, the government will continue to pursue the plan for public housing development,” the spokeswoman said. “The 12,000 public housing units to be produced are an important component of the supply of public housing in the next 10 years.”

However, in highlighting Hong Kong’s “unparalleled reputation for hosting more professional and elite-level amateur golf championships than any other venue in Asia”, Cho said the course in its current state was the only one in the city capable of staging “large-scale” events.

Building on the club’s car park and part of the course would remove the space needed to host professional tournaments, he added.