US and LIV Golf star Patrick Reed with his Hong Kong Open trophy which he won by three strokes at Hong Kong Golf Club on Sunday for his first title in four years. Image courtesy asiantour.com.
By Rahul Banerji
Tied for second place overnight, Delhi golfer Rashid Khan took a handy shared eighth place at the $2 million Link Hong Kong Open behind event winner Partick Reed of the US at the Hong Kong Golf Club on Sunday.
LIV Golf star Reed shot an astonishing 11 under par 59 in the third round to open a three-stroke gap on Rashid and Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong and maintained the advantage in the final round to total 22 under par 258.
Defending champion Ben Campbell of New Zealand returned a 65 to finish runner-up at 19 under 261.
Khan climbed into top five contention with a Moving Day 7 under 63 after earlier rounds of 64 and 68 but could only manage a level par 70 on Sunday to finish at 15 under 265 and earned a valuable 90 Asian Tour points.
Last week, Rashid lost out in a playoff to fellow Delhi golfer Sachin Baisoya at the Jaipur Open on the domestic tour.
Thippong, who won his maiden Asian Tour title at the DGC Open presented by Mastercard in 2022 ahead of Ajeetesh Sandhu, was T14 with a final 71 after cards of 62, 67 and 66, one stroke behind Rashid.
Long gap
At the top, 4Aces team member Reed stayed ahead of the pack to notch up his first win in four years with a final round 66 with Campbell sole second and Japan’s Kazuki Higa ((63-68-68-63) taking a merited third place.
It was the Texan’s first Asian Tour title and the first individual win since the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open
Sandhu (65-68-71-65) totalled 11 under 269 for a share pf 26th place alongside two-time Indian Open winner Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia (67-66-68-68) and four others.
Tata Steel PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat (68-68-71-65) was tied 42nd on 8 under 272 alongside another familiar face on Indian courses Jazz Janewattanond of Thailand while Gaganjeet Bhullar and Shiv Kapur were the two other Indians to make the cut.
Missing out were India’s sole LIV Golf star Anirban Lahiri, Chikkarangappa S., Karandeep Kochhar and Yuvraj Sandhu.
Reed birdied four holes in a row on the front nine to hold a seven-stroke advantage at one point on Sunday before Campbell and the rest of the pack closed in after he dropped two shots on the back nine.
Familiar track
“Nothing like coming to a place that I know pretty well and love the golf course,” Reed, 34, was quoted as saying on the Asian Tour website.
He will now play next week’s International Series Qatar and the season-ending PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers subsequently.
“I love how it makes me think about golf shots and you have to be creative around this place. So, to be able to come out and play the way like I did on the weekend.
“I mean, it always helps shooting 59 yesterday, but the biggest thing, the hardest part, was today.
“Going out there and forgetting about the 59 and going out, even though I had a three-shot lead, to try to expand on that.
“And the goal was to make a couple birdies early quickly, get up on top, so then on the back nine I could just kind of hit fairways and middle of the greens.
“When I was able to birdie 13 there, then it just kind of got into really boring golf which led to two mistakes. But, you know, the last one, I was not ever going to take that on.”
Reed’s 59 was the second recorded on the Asian Tour but preferred lies were in play and it equalled fellow-American John Catlin’s score at the International Series Macau in May.
Also read: Sachin Baisoya battles to fifth-hole playoff victory in Jaipur Open
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