Australia’s Wade Ormsby yesterday won the Hong Kong Open as Rafael Cabrera-Bello suffered heartbreak on the final green for the second year in a row.
Ormsby, playing in the penultimate pair, had bogeyed the difficult 18th hole and left his rival Cabrera-Bello needing only a par to force a playoff.
However, a poor bunker shot by the Spanish world No. 20 left him too much to do with his putt, which rolled inches wide to hand the Australian his first European Tour title — 13 years after he started playing on the circuit.
Photo: EPA
“Unbelievable to be honest. I’m kind of lost for words a bit at the moment,” Ormsby said. “Two hundred eighty-odd starts on the European Tour, and a first win means a lot to me.”
Ormsby’s final-round 68 meant the world No. 319 finished on an 11-under 269, one shot clear of Cabrera-Bello and three others.
Paul Peterson and Julian Suri of the US and Sweden’s Alexander Bjork also finished on 10-under.
Adelaide-born Ormsby, who turned professional in 2001, had won only one professional tournament in his career before yesterday — the Asian Tour’s Panasonic Open in India in 2013.
The tournament’s star names, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia, ended on seven-under and five-under respectively after failing to shine on the short but challenging course.
Rose recovered from a rocky start to card another solid but unremarkable round of 68, finishing well off the pace overall at seven-under.
“It wasn’t quite what I was looking for but the start kind of indicated that,” said Rose, who opened with bogeys on the first and third holes. “I’m really pleased that I kept [my] head up and ground it out.”
Miguel Angel Jimenez — who hit the tournament’s best round of 63 yesterday — finished eight-under.
Jimenez said he would celebrate with a cigar and a bottle of wine after rolling back the years to finish with a flawless round, including seven birdies on the par-70 course, where he has won the tournament a record four times.
“I’m going to find my cigar and have a bottle of wine on the terrace,” Jimenez said after completing his final round. “This is maybe not the most beautiful terrace in the world, but it’s the best terrace in the world.”
The Taiwanese players had a strong showing on the final day, with Lin Wen-tang climbing 15 places to finish in 27th place with three-under 277 and Hung Chien-yao gaining eight places to settle in 48th with one-over 281.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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