Australia’s Wade Ormsby overcame a one-shot deficit by closing with a two-under-par 68 to win the UBS Hong Kong Open on Sunday.
Despite a late bogey at the last hole, the 37-year-old Australian could still afford to clinch the UBS Hong Kong Open by a single shot as none of his nearest rivals could surmount their late challenge to dislodge him from the top of the leaderboard.
It was sweet relief for Ormsby as his last win on the Asian Tour dated back to 2013 and his victory at the Hong Kong Golf Club was also his first on the European Tour after 263 starts.
American Paul Peterson produced a late charge but his closing 10-under-par 270 total was not enough to force a play-off with Ormsby and he had to settle for a share of second place together with compatriot Julian Suri, Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello and Sweden’s Alexander Bjork.
Newly-crowned Asian Tour winner Micah Lauren Shin of the United States continued his good form by ending the week in tied-seventh place that includes Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez and overnight leader S.S.P. Chawrasia of India, who had a day to forget after he signed off with a 72.
Malaysia’s Gavin Green meanwhile continues to lead the Asian Tour Order of Merit despite signing off in tied-62nd place after a 74.
Did you know?
- Wade Ormsby’s earned his 2012 Asian Tour card at the Qualifying School in Thailand. He had his first Asian Tour victory in India the following year.
- After 263 starts of the European Tour, Ormsby has finally also won his first European Tour title.
- Ormsby’s best result before his victory at the UBS Hong Kong Open was a tied-fifth result at the Fiji International.
- Rafa Cabrera Bello had to settle for another second-place finish at the UBS Hong Kong Open. He finished runner-up last year too.
- Paul Peterson came through the Asian Tour Qualifying School in 2014 and claimed his first title on the European Tour at the 2016 D+D REAL Czech Masters.
- Peterson has four top-10s in his last four starts on the Asian Tour. These include two runner-up finishes in India and Hong Kong.
- S.S.P. Chawrasia would have been the first wire-to-wire champion of the UBS Hong Kong Open had he won.
Players’ Quotes
Wade Ormsby (Aus), Fourth round 68 (-2), Total 269 (-11)
It feels amazing, mate. I’m just trying to hold it together here. Yeah, pretty stoked. Well, not pretty stoked: Very stoked. I played solid all day and I just tried to keep pumping it out. Hit a lot of greens. Putter wasn’t quite behaving but just played solid. Sometimes that’s good enough. A bit disappointing to three-putt the last, but it’s a tricky pin down there. Anyway, good enough. It’s a bit of a weird feeling (watching Rafa over that par putt). You don’t want to win like that but I’m sure a lot of guys have. I just missed one there, too. I don’t know, it’s not the way you want to do it, but at the same time, yeah, you take them regardless of how you can get them.
S.S.P. Chawrasia (Ind), Fourth round 72 (+2), Total 272 (-8)
I was playing well today. I start very good, and then made a triple bogey on nine and from then on, I kept dropping shots. But overall, I managed to make a comeback. I had a couple of putts missed, but that’s all right. It’s part of the game. There are three events more to play and there’s a good chance for me on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. It’s not over yet at least for the Order of Merit title.
Paul Peterson (Usa), Fourth round 67 (-3), Total 270 (-10)
It was fun out there. Really enjoyed it. Beautiful day here in Hong Kong. A little bit different than the first few days; a little bit of stormy and cloudy, which I’ve never seen, so back to its typical self. I had another solid round going, another bogey free, which always feels good. I was just happy with how many quality putts I hit coming down the stretch. I mean, any one of those could have gone in. I think that’s the difference some weeks whether you top five or win. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get those to go in coming down the stretch, but I hit quality putts and you can’t ask for much more than that.
Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp), Fourth round 63 (-7), Total 272 (-8)
I played very solid, very solid from green to tees. I played really, really good. I made four-under par on the first nine and three-under par on the back nine. I’m very happy. In the end I make a couple of birdies. I holed like a 10-foot putt on 17 and another 10 foot-putt on 16. Played very well. Particularly hole No. 12, I hit the ball like three foot from the hole, beautiful but I missed the putt. I played really, really well today. I love to come here. This golf course always makes me feel good because, you know, you need to play the game. It’s not only about to hit hard. You need to control the ball. Of course I’m having fun. I’ve been hitting the ball very well, and today it was moving better than the previous days, and there is the score.
Micah Lauren Shin (USA), Fourth round 68 (-2), Total 272 (-8)
It was a new experience, and playing with these European Tour guys and with some of the top-10 players in the world, players was pretty cool. I could stand on the same greens, same range and play with them. It makes me inspired, as well. I was actually kind of disappointed I wasn’t hitting as well as Manila, but I still had a great week and I’m still satisfied with it. I think I’ve been just really steady, just always confident all year long. I don’t know, it’s really hard. I’m not saying it hard for me to miss a cut but being confident was I think key for me to not miss the cut. I had a few times I almost missed the cut but I didn’t give up and came back.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Fourth round 67 (-3), Total 273 (-7)
I think I’m a little bit tired, playing a lot of golf. I didn’t play good golf as I used to do the last couple months. But overall, I managed to finish in the top-10 and this is still not a bad result with my return to Asia again. I’ve still got a lot of events, especially Thongchai and Boonchu, local events. I have to play two local tour and then maybe Indonesia. So this might be the last three events for me. I try to win every year at least one. But I didn’t get any win this year. So I think Indonesia might be another chance for me. I have to try hard and put everything, all I can, for the last event of The Asian Tour.
Gavin Green (Mas), Fourth round 74 (+4), Total 285 (+5)
It has not been a very good week. I’m not very happy with the weekend. But it’s part of golf, I guess. You play some good weeks and you have some bad weeks. It’s just not a very good weekend, that’s all. It’s only my first time here, and you know, I think I did okay the first two days. The last couple days, I just didn’t finish well. If S.S.P. goes ahead and wins, you can’t do anything about it. He’s playing well. I’ll just move on to the next event in Mauritius. I’m playing most of the events on the Asian Tour. I’m going to do my best in the last three and try to finish strong.
Leading scores after round 4 of the UBS Hong Kong Open Championship 2017 being played at the par 70, 6710 Yards Hong Kong GC course (am – denotes amateur):
269 – Wade ORMSBY (AUS) 68-68-65-68.
270 – Julian SURI (USA) 68-67-69-66, Paul PETERSON (USA) 70-68-65-67, Alexander BJORK (SWE) 69-66-67-68, Rafa CABRERA BELLO (ESP) 69-68-64-69.
271 – Tommy FLEETWOOD (ENG) 68-68-66-69.
272 – Miguel Angel JIMENEZ (ESP) 70-69-70-63, Micah Lauren SHIN (USA) 67-69-68-68, S.S.P. CHAWRASIA (IND) 65-66-69-72.
273 – Shubhankar SHARMA (IND) 66-71-69-67, Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) 70-68-68-67, Clement SORDET (FRA) 71-71-64-67, Justin ROSE (ENG) 68-69-68-68, James MORRISON (ENG) 71-66-68-68, Thomas DETRY (BEL) 67-69-66-71.
274 – Poom SAKSANSIN (THA) 67-68-70-69, Sean CROCKER (USA) 69-70-66-69, Dylan FRITTELLI (RSA) 71-65-68-70.
275 – LI Haotong (CHN) 68-69-72-66, Matthew FITZPATRICK (ENG) 66-73-67-69, Sergio GARCIA (ESP) 69-71-66-69, Joakim LAGERGREN (SWE) 69-66-70-70.
276 – Nino BERTASIO (ITA) 73-69-67-67, Jamie DONALDSON (WAL) 67-69-70-70, Sam BRAZEL (AUS) 69-71-66-70, Chris PAISLEY (ENG) 71-70-65-70.
