Hong Kong Open (golf)

Hong Kong Open (golf)

The Hong Kong Open is a golf tournament which is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour. It was founded in 1959 and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since 2001. The Hong Kong Golf Association, Hong Kong PGA, and Chinese PGA also receive a limited number of exemptions into the tournament for their members.

Since taking its place on the European Tour the event has always been held at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Sheung Shui, New Territories. Current title sponsors are Swiss banking giants, UBS, who signed a four year sponsorship agreement to cover the 2005–2008 tournaments.

The tournament is usually played towards the end of the year, in November or December, and as such, up to the 2008 event, it has fallen into the following season for European Tour purposes. For example the Hong Kong Open played on the 2–5 December 2004 was part of the European Tour's 2005 season. As the European Tour switches to a calendar based season from 2010, the 2009 schedule will contain two editions of the Hong Kong Open.

In 2008, Florida-based Hong Kong amateur, Jason Hak, became the youngest player ever to make the cut in a European Tour event, at 14 years and 304 days, eclipsing the record set by Sergio García at the Turespana Open Mediterrania in 1995. Many of the worlds best known golfers have won the tournament, including Bernhard Langer, José María Olazábal, Kel Nagle, Greg Norman, Peter Thomson, Tom Watson, Pádraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie, and Ian Woosnam.