Ben Campbell lifts the trophy with back to back birdies at Hong Kong Open
Campbell was trailing by one shot at the start of the Sunday in race to win Hong Kong Open. Cam Smith and Phachara were sharing the lead heading into the final round with 16 under the par.
Phachara looked to be heading for the win when he birdied three in a row from 11 and led by one from Cam Smith and two from Campbell with three to go.
However, controversy unfolded on the par-four 16th when he hooked his tee shot into the trees. He chose to try and hit his ball back into play from a treacherous lie but couldn’t scrap his ball out of bushes he tried to play a recovery shot on his knees but managed to force his third shot only a few meters onto the nearby rough. He ended up making a costly double. He also birdied the 17th hole before his disappointing finish on 18. He was heading to be favorite from the start to win the tournament the way he played throughout 4 days.
Cam smith scored birdie at 11th but he couldn’t score any birdie in the last seven holes which proved to be costly to him and he slipped his lead in to last hole when Ben Campbell drained a 10 foot birdie to win in a thrilling fashion on last hole. Campbell hit a four-under par 66 to finish 19-under at the Top of Leader board.
A birdie-birdie finish saw him win Hong Kong Open by one and become the first New Zealander since Frank Nobilo in 1997 to lift the prestigious trophy. He described his struggles during tournament, when he talked to media.
“I didn’t get off to the best of starts and the swing wasn’t feeling that great”
He told further that he was feeling tight in his swing but from his past experiences he was able to put together couple of nice swings down the stretch which helped him alot. Campbell never got the lead throughout 4 days it was quite a win from behind for New Zealander.
Cam smith finished second on Leader board and scored two-under-par 68 to finish at 18-under. Cam smith on his performance
“It didn’t feel great, but it was still OK”
Other noticeable performances included young South Korean Yubin Jang who carded 63 on final round to have a memorable Sunday finish to cap off his professional debut outside of Korea at Honk Kong Open. https://x.com/asiantourgolf/status/1723608969195946146?s=20
Former major winners Graeme McDowell and Patrick Reed 12th and 15th respectively.
Final standings from the 62nd Hong Kong Open are shared in the link https://x.com/asiantourgolf/status/1723621731175465366?s=20
Overall the tournament was very nicely organized with the field having lot of star power to watch. Tournament returned after a 4 year break due to Covid19. The tournament finish happened in a thrilling fashion on last hole which made viewers to sit at the edge of their seats till the end.
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