ON THE ASIAN TO UR
ORMSBY
CLINCHES
AMAZING
VICTORY
ustralia’s Wade Ormsby
overcame a one-shot
deficit by closing with
a two-under-par 68
to win the UBS Hong Kong Open.
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?
•
•
•
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Wade Ormsby’s earned his
Wade posing with the trophy
2012 Asian Tour card at the
Qualifying School in Thailand.
Open. He finished runner-up last year
He had his first Asian Tour
too.
victory in India the following
•
Paul Peterson came through the Asian
year.
Tour Qualifying School in 2014 and
After 263 starts of the
claimed his first title on the European
European Tour, Ormsby
Tour at the 2016 D+D REAL Czech
has finally also won his first
Masters.
European Tour title.
•
Peterson has four top-10s in his last
Ormsby’s best result before his
four
starts on the Asian Tour. These
victory at the UBS Hong Kong
include two runner-up finishes in
Open was a tied-fifth result at
India and Hong Kong.
the Fiji International.
•
S.S.P. Chawrasia would have been
Rafa Cabrera Bello had to
the first wire-to-wire champion of the
settle for another second-place
UBS Hong Kong Open had he won.
finish at the UBS Hong Kong
Els excited at new talents
International team captain Ernie Els is excited
at the prospect of helming a squad sprinkled
with new blood for the Presidents Cup against
the United States at Royal Melbourne Golf
Club, Australia next year. Els, a 19-time PGA
TOUR winner, featured in two events during
the PGA TOUR’s recent Asian Swing where
he kept an eye on the progress of emerging
stars such as Korea’s Siwoo Kim and Sungjae
Im, Australian Cameron Smith, Kiradech
Aphibarnrat of Thailand, India’s Shubhankar
Sharma, Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira, Argentinean
Emiliano Grillo, China’s Haotong Li and
C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei. With established
International team members, Marc Leishman,
Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace,
Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott, showing
good form since the start of the race to make
the International team in August, Els cannot
wait for his squad to take shape over the next
10 months.
In Korea, Els played nine holes in a
practice round with 22-year-old Sharma,
28 G o l f P l u s
NOVEMBER
whom the South African had encountered
during a golf clinic in New Delhi some 10
years ago. He also spent time speaking to
various other potential international team
members, including 20-year-old Im, the
2018 Web.com Player of the Year. In eight
appearances, Els has only been on one winning
team when the Presidents Cup was played in
Royal Melbourne in 1998. He also played
his way into Presidents Cup folklore for his
famous duel-in-the-dark with Tiger Woods
in 2003 in South Africa which led to the ¿ rst
draw in the biennial team competition. Woods
will captain the U.S. team when the Presidents
Cup is held from December 9 to 15 at Royal
Melbourne, Australia.
The International team race began in
August and will conclude after the 2019
TOUR Championship next August, with
the leading eight players earning automatic
selection. Els will have four picks.
Els, who will visit Royal Melbourne on
November 25-26 for his captain’s visit, is
2018
Ernie Els
hoping to get off on a winning note as captain.
“Being captain of the Presidents Cup is a real
honor and I’m really looking forward to it.
It’s going to be a very diverse team with the
way things are shaping up already. We’ve got
another year to go, so we’re going to have
an interesting new group of players that’s
going to probably make the team. It’s going
to be a very diverse group from probably six,
seven to eight nations, so it could be a very
interesting time coming up. It’s going to be
exciting,” he said.