Trailblazing Taiwanese golfer Lu Liang-huan dies at 85; Hong Kong Golf Club will pay tribute to ‘wonderful friend’
- ‘Mr Lu’ won inaugural Hong Kong Open in 1959 and again in 1974, and put Taiwan on the golfing map with second-place finish at 1971 British Open
- ‘Lu was a great champion, a real legend of Asian golf,’ Hong Kong Golf Club captain Clarence Leung says
The Hong Kong Golf Club will pay tribute to Lu Liang-huan – affectionately known as “Mr Lu” – at the next Hong Kong Open, after the Taiwan golfing great died this week aged 85.
Lu, who died on Tuesday of unspecified health issues, put Taiwan on the golfing map, having taken a job as a caddie growing up to help make ends meet. He was also a force in Hong Kong, winning the inaugural Hong Kong Open in 1959, before becoming the club’s resident professional from 1962 to 1964.
A runner-up to Lee Trevino in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in 1971, Lu claimed his second Fanling victory in 1974.
“We are very saddened by his passing. Lu was a great champion, a real legend of Asian golf and a wonderful friend of the club for many years,” Hong Kong Golf Club captain Clarence Leung told the Post.
“He was our resident professional from 1962 to 1964, living in Fanling, making friends with many in the area and helping to develop golf in the city. Loved by our staff and members alike, his legacy as the very first winner of the Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong’s oldest professional sports event, will live on.”
“We will look to honour his life and career at the next edition of the Hong Kong Open,” Leung added. The blue-riband event, which is co-sanctioned by the European Tour, Asian Tour, and Hong Kong Golf Association, was last held in January 2020, having been hit by ongoing travel restrictions in the city owing to the pandemic.
Taiwanese golfer and Olympic bronze medallist CT Pan paid tribute to Lu in a Facebook post, lauding him as an excellent golfer with a big heart.
“Not only did he have high-end ball skills, but because of his sharpness and coolness, Mr Lu is the teacher I looked up to most in my childhood,” Pan wrote.
“Thank you teacher Lu for your contributions to golf. May you rest in peace,” Pan added.
After winning his first Hong Kong title and becoming the club pro, Lu played an exhibition match at Fanling in 1964 against American superstar Arnold Palmer, who was so impressed he invited him to play in the US.
Lu appeared in many high-profile events there and played several times in the Masters at Augusta National. But it was in 1971, at the 100th British Open at Royal Birkdale, that he became world famous.
With his gentlemanly habit of tipping his porkpie hat to fans, Lu earned the nickname “Mr Lu” as he went toe-to-toe with the great Trevino, playing some terrific golf before the American prevailed by a single shot.
Outside his golfing achievements, Lu dabbled in diplomacy and in 1979 accepted invitations from the king of Morocco and the president of Ivory Coast to golf with them in their countries.
