MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ WINS HONG KONG OPEN FOR THIRD TIME
FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Miguel Angel Jiménez became the oldest winner in European Tour history as the Spaniard produced a masterclass in approach play to capture the UBS Hong Kong Open for the third time.
A five under par round of 65, which might have been even lower had his putter got going, gave him a 15 under par total at Hong Kong Golf Club and one shot victory over Fredrik Andersson Hed.
At aged 48 years and 318 days, Jimenez becomes the beats the previous European Tour winner age record of Des Smyth who was 48 years and 34 days at the 2001 Madeira Islands Open.
The victory was Jiménez’ 19th on The European Tour and 12th since turning 40 – two of which also came in Fanling, Hong Kong in 2005 and 2008.
“It’s very nice - I hope it’s not the last one,” joked the Spaniard, who was an assistant Captain at The Ryder Cup in Medinah.
“I really love this place. I love the golf course – it’s a great golf course where you have to control the ball very well, it’s not a matter of distance.”
Jiménez went to the turn in a brilliant four under par 30 despite not holing a putt longer than eight feet – the highlight a brilliant five wood approach to two feet at the ninth.
He then sank a 12 footer at the tenth, and parred his way in for victory.
The 40 year old Andersson Hed, who made 14 trips to Qualifying School before winning his first European Tour title in Italy two years ago, birdied the second, two-putted the long third, then hit a fine approach to three feet at the next in an early charge.
He then had a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th and 12th, but a 12 foot birdie putt at the last lipped out in what proved to be a decisive moment.
Australian Marcus Fraser was third and joint fourth came Ireland's Peter Lawrie – sealing his place at the DP World Tour Championship in the process - Scot Stephen Gallacher and 19 year old Italian Matteo Manassero, last week's Barclays Singapore Open champion.
New Zealander Michael Campbell, joint overnight leader with Jiménez, fell away to joint eighth with a closing round of two-over-par 72.
Paul Lawrie broke par with every round and finished T10 on 273, the same total as England's Chris Wood whose final round of seven-under 63 was the lowest score of the tournament.
In the race for places on The 2013 European Tour International Schedule, Australian Andrew Dodt produced a remarkable comeback to keep his hopes alive.
Five over par at the turn, the former Avantha Masters winner looked unlikely to climb from 122nd in The Race to Dubai into the all-important top 119.
He came home in a three under 33, however, and a tie for 37th saw him edge ahead of Richard Bland, Tjaart Van Der Weld, Rhys Davies and Gary Boyd to 117th.
While Dodt looks safe, Bland and Van Der Weld face a nervous afternoon to see if Tommy Fleetwood and Tano Goya can earn enough at the South African Open Championship to edge them out.
And former winner Davies and England’s Boyd now join the likes of Bradley Dredge, Shiv Kapur, Oliver Wilson and Christian Nilsson in returning to Qualifying School next week.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 280 (4x70) Yardage 6,699
265 Miguel Angel JIMENEZ (ESP) 65-67-68-65 (260,638).
Miguel Angel Jiménez became the oldest winner in European Tour history as the Spaniard produced a masterclass in approach play to capture the UBS Hong Kong Open for the third time.
A five under par round of 65, which might have been even lower had his putter got going, gave him a 15 under par total at Hong Kong Golf Club and one shot victory over Fredrik Andersson Hed.
At aged 48 years and 318 days, Jimenez becomes the beats the previous European Tour winner age record of Des Smyth who was 48 years and 34 days at the 2001 Madeira Islands Open.
The victory was Jiménez’ 19th on The European Tour and 12th since turning 40 – two of which also came in Fanling, Hong Kong in 2005 and 2008.
“It’s very nice - I hope it’s not the last one,” joked the Spaniard, who was an assistant Captain at The Ryder Cup in Medinah.
“I really love this place. I love the golf course – it’s a great golf course where you have to control the ball very well, it’s not a matter of distance.”
Jiménez went to the turn in a brilliant four under par 30 despite not holing a putt longer than eight feet – the highlight a brilliant five wood approach to two feet at the ninth.
He then sank a 12 footer at the tenth, and parred his way in for victory.
The 40 year old Andersson Hed, who made 14 trips to Qualifying School before winning his first European Tour title in Italy two years ago, birdied the second, two-putted the long third, then hit a fine approach to three feet at the next in an early charge.
He then had a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th and 12th, but a 12 foot birdie putt at the last lipped out in what proved to be a decisive moment.
Australian Marcus Fraser was third and joint fourth came Ireland's Peter Lawrie – sealing his place at the DP World Tour Championship in the process - Scot Stephen Gallacher and 19 year old Italian Matteo Manassero, last week's Barclays Singapore Open champion.
New Zealander Michael Campbell, joint overnight leader with Jiménez, fell away to joint eighth with a closing round of two-over-par 72.
Paul Lawrie broke par with every round and finished T10 on 273, the same total as England's Chris Wood whose final round of seven-under 63 was the lowest score of the tournament.
In the race for places on The 2013 European Tour International Schedule, Australian Andrew Dodt produced a remarkable comeback to keep his hopes alive.
Five over par at the turn, the former Avantha Masters winner looked unlikely to climb from 122nd in The Race to Dubai into the all-important top 119.
He came home in a three under 33, however, and a tie for 37th saw him edge ahead of Richard Bland, Tjaart Van Der Weld, Rhys Davies and Gary Boyd to 117th.
While Dodt looks safe, Bland and Van Der Weld face a nervous afternoon to see if Tommy Fleetwood and Tano Goya can earn enough at the South African Open Championship to edge them out.
And former winner Davies and England’s Boyd now join the likes of Bradley Dredge, Shiv Kapur, Oliver Wilson and Christian Nilsson in returning to Qualifying School next week.
Par 280 (4x70) Yardage 6,699
265 Miguel Angel JIMENEZ (ESP) 65-67-68-65 (260,638).
266 Fredrik ANDERSSON HED (SWE) 66-66-70-64 (173,759)
268 Marcus FRASER (AUS) 67-69-68-64 (97,897)
268 Marcus FRASER (AUS) 67-69-68-64 (97,897)
269 Stephen GALLACHER (SCO) 68-68-68-65, Peter LAWRIE (IRL) 68-68-67-66, Matteo MANASSERO (ITA) 67-70-64-68 (46,915).
271 Matt KUCHAR (USA) 69-69-66-67 (46,915).
272 Pablo LARRAZABAL (ESP) 69-70-65-68, Michael CAMPBELL (NZL) 67-64-69-72 (37,663).
273 Chris WOOD (ENG) 72-70-68-63, Mark FOSTER (ENG) 69-68-68-68, Paul
LAWRIE (SCO) 69-69-67-68, Thongchai JAIDEE (THA) 72-66-67-68, Anders
HANSEN (DEN) 69-64-70-70 (27,211).
274 Ricardo SANTOS (POR) 71-65-73-65, David HORSEY (ENG) 67-70-71-66,
Jose Maria OLAZABAL (ESP) 66-71-69-68, ZHANG Lian-wei (CHN) 66-66-69-73.
Labels: ASIAN TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Sunday, November 18, 2012
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