Australia’s Wade Ormsby has won the Hong Kong Open for the second time, cruising to victory by closing with a four-under-par 66 at the Hong Kong Golf Club on Sunday.
Unlike his first win at the Hong Kong Open in 2017 where he won by a single shot, Ormsby enjoyed a more comfortable victory as he triumphed by four shots over Major champion Shane Lowry of Ireland.
The Australian did not get off to the best of starts when he stumbled with an opening bogey. However, he recovered quickly with three consecutive birdies from the second hole before adding another on nine to take a five-shot lead at the turn then.
Ormsby birdied 11 but dropped another shot on 15 before another birdie on 17 effectively confirmed his wire-to-wire victory as he closed with a winning total of 17-under-par.
“I’ve been working my guts out the last 14 to 15 months trying to take my game to the next level,” Ormsby said. “Australian PGA three weeks ago, losing that one really hurt me so I’ll put a few changes in place. I worked out over the break and to come back here and get the win so soon, can’t put it into words really.
“Obviously didn’t get off to a great start, made a huge putt one and that kind of set the tone. After that, I felt good out there I just had to keep doing my thing because I knew I was playing really good. When you get in front there’s no point in changing that, no point trying to play defensive. The guys had to come and catch me basically. I was hoping to win this season but to do it in week two of the year in my first event is special and it will be one I’ll remember forever.
“I have three wins on the main tours in my career and this is my first wire-to-wire. I’m very proud of my play this week. Going through what I went through three weeks ago, that kind of hit me pretty hard. I didn’t even want to know the game for three or four days, but to come back and do what I’ve done this week, like I said, proud of myself and proud of my team.”
Lowry surmounted a late charge by storming up the leaderboard with a 64, having started the day six shots back of Ormsby in a share of ninth place. However, his gallant efforts were not enough to catch the Australian and he had to settle for second place.
Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul enjoyed yet another top-10 finish as he posted a 69 to take third place while 2019 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, Jazz Janewattananond carded a 68 to take outright fourth place ahead of American Tony Finau, who finished in fifth place after a 67.
Did you know?
- With his victory, Wade Ormsby became the second wire-to-wire winner of the Hong Kong Open after England’s Aaron Rai (2018).
- In 2017, Ormsby won the Hong Kong Open by one-shot with a final round two-under-par 68.
- Ormsby finished 79th on last year’s Race to Dubai on the European Tour and had four top-10s. A tied-second finish at the ISPS HANDA Vic Open was his best result of the year in 2019.
- The Australian won his first Asian Tour title at the Panasonic Open India in 2013 and was playing on a sponsor’s invitation this week.
Leading scores after round 4 of the Hong Kong Open, played at the par 70, 6710 Yards Hong Kong GC course (am – denotes amateur):
263 – Wade Ormsby (AUS) 65-66-66-66.
267 – Shane Lowry (IRL) 69-66-68-64.
268 – Gunn Charoenkul (THA) 67-67-65-69.
269 – Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 68-66-67-68.
270 – Tony Finau (USA) 69-69-65-67.
271 – Rashid Khan (IND) 69-69-63-70.
272 – Charlie Wi (KOR) 73-68-65-66, Naoki Sekito (JPN) 73-67-65-67, Sadom Kaewkanjana (THA) 71-70-64-67, David Gleeson (AUS) 66-71-67-68, Tomoharu Otsuki (JPN) 65-71-67-69, Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 68-69-64-71.
273 – Alexander Yang (am, HKG) 69-69-67-68, Yikeun Chang (KOR) 66-70-68-69, Travis Smyth (AUS) 66-68-69-70, Chan Shih-chang (TPE) 68-67-67-71, Taewoo Kim #1468 (KOR) 69-66-66-72.
274 – Joohyung Kim (KOR) 67-68-71-68, Angelo Que (PHI) 67-68-69-70, Prom Meesawat (THA) 67-68-69-70, Shiv Kapur (IND) 68-66-69-71.
275 – Jack Harrison (ENG) 69-68-69-69, Miguel Tabuena (PHI) 70-68-68-69, John Catlin (USA) 68-71-67-69, Paul Peterson (USA) 73-67-66-69, Phachara Khongwatmai (THA) 72-69-65-69, S.S.P. Chawrasia (IND) 70-63-69-73.
A four-time winner of the Australian Golf Media Awards, including Best Photojournalism, Best Opinion, Best Column and Best Photographic Presentation, Inside Golf Group Editor Richard Fellner is the quintessential Golf Tragic, having played the game for over 50 years (but has never gotten any better!) He has played and reviewed courses all over the world, and has interviewed many of the great players of the game (including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Greg Norman). Richard is a member of both the Australian Golf Media Association and the Golf Society of Australia, and has been a featured guest on many Australian "sports talk" radio shows and networks, including ABC Grandstand, SEN 1116, Melbourne Talk Radio 1377, 2GB and others.
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