Hong Kong Open Fantasy Preview
They say there ain’t no rest for the wicked, or for the Euro Tour members.
After wrapping up their season in Dubai last week they are kicking off a new season in Hong Kong this week.
This event has had a few different spots on the fall schedule but it’s been running since 2002. The course is Hong Kong GC, often just referred to as Fanling. It’s also often referred to as ‘fiddly.’ That would be the best way to describe this 6,700-yard, par-70 layout.
The tricky greens are often the main defense here. You can read more about the course via golfer quotes over at the Fantasy Golfanac.
This course is extremely short. Tight and tree-lined is the style here albeit slightly less tree-lined after Super Typhoon Mangkhut roared through and destroyed 1,000 trees. That was just two months ago. Given the test Mother Nature has thrown its way this fall, perhaps course history should be tossed out the window a bit more than usual. It’s not always the case but tricky weather seasons can often lead to easier-than-usual scoring conditions since they don’t have the luxury of preparing the course like normal. I’m not sure if that’s the case here but given the recent typhoon, it might be ripe for scoring.
Past contenders here are mostly of the fairways-and-greens variety but big hitters like Rory, Rose, and Scott Hend have also feasted on Fanling.
Let’s have a look at some past results to see who might like this layout…
Top Performers in Asia (since 2015)
Shubhankar Sharma
Tommy Fleetwood
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Lucas Bjerregaard
Sihwan Kim
David Lipsky
Fabrizio Zanotti
Thongchai Jaidee
James Morrison
Matthias Schwab
Top Performers on Bermuda (since 2015)
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Tommy Fleetwood
Sergio Garcia
Matthew Fitzpatrick
David Lipsky
Jeunghun Wang
Patrick Reed
Andrew Johnston
Alejandro Canizares
Shubhankar Sharma
Top Performers on Short Courses (since 2015)
Sergio Garcia
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Shubhankar Sharma
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Andrew Johnston
Tommy Fleetwood
Paul Peterson
David Horsey
Lucas Bjerregaard
Wade Ormsby
Top Performers on Par 70s(since 2015)
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Lucas Bjerregaard
Fabrizio Zanotti
Andrew Johnston
Nacho Elvira
Scott Hend
Rafa Cabrera Bello
David Horsey
Thongchai Jaidee
Thomas Aiken
Top Performers in the Fall (since 2015)
Sergio Garcia
Tommy Fleetwood
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Victor Dubuisson
Patrick Reed
Lucas Bjerregaard
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Nicolas Colsaerts
Jason Scrivener
Shubhankar Sharma
Golfers that show up on all FIVE lists: Rafa Cabrera Bello
Golfers that show up on 4-of-5 lists: Tommy Fleetwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Lucas Bjerregaard, Shubhankar Sharma
Golfers that show up on 3-of-5 lists: Sergio Garcia, Andrew Beef Johnston
My Top 25 for the 2019 Hong Kong Open
1. Sergio Garcia
2. Tommy Fleetwood
3. Patrick Reed
4. Rafa Cabrera Bello
5. Lucas Bjerregaard
6. Matthew Fitzpatrick
7. Miguel Angel Jimenez
8. Shubhankar Sharma
9. Sean Crocker
10. Sam Horsfield
11. Wade Ormsby
12. Matthias Schwab
13. Jason Scrivener
14. Andrew Johnston
15. Alejandro Canizares
16. Sihwan Kim
17. Thomas Aiken
18. David Lipsky
19. Nicolas Colsaerts
20. Ashley Chesters
21. Paul Peterson
22. Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano
23. Thongchai Jaidee
24. David Horsey
25. Steven Brown
