Two years ago at the Link Hong Kong Open (LHKO), Kipp Popert, the first ever adaptive golfer to compete at the tournament, met and inspired upcoming local golf star Andreas Ma Ho-Hin to follow his dreams, and never let any physical challenges stop him from believing in himself.
Since then, 14-year-old Ma has sprouted into a confident youngster who successfully combines competition and training, school & study, friend and family time, to be the best he can be. Ma has won many golfing accolades from events around the world, highlighted by his win at the Men’s Net Competition at the 2026 English Disability Open, and a runner-up finish at the 2026 Australian Amputee Open.
A real trailblazer, the International Christian School student is creating a huge impact on inclusive sports in Hong Kong and has become an Ambassador for the Hand in Hand Association.
Since their first meeting in 2024, Popert and Ma have stayed in touch, with the former acting as a mentor, offering support and encouragement across all aspects of life through social media and messaging apps.
The 28-year-old Popert is continuing to break new grounds in the world of golf with his extraordinary athletic achievements. The Englishman has dominated the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) as the long-standing World No. 1. He is a 16-time G4D Tour winner, an English Amateur Semi-Finalist, and the first disabled golfer to qualify for and compete in the prestigious R&A Amateur Championship and LHKO two years ago.
“I’ve had a really good year,” said Popert.
“There have been no G4D events this year, so I haven’t done too many of those yet, but I’ve played really well. I finished semi-finals in the English Amateur and I’ve won the US Adaptive for the fourth consecutive time. Looking forward to 2027 and trying to plan the schedule for that. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be here because I want to try and play well and keep pushing forwards and I need tournaments to do that.”
Today, the two inspiring golfers reunited at the very spot where they met, at the LHKO at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling.
Ma was looking forward to catching up with Popert again. On this reunion with his mentor, he commented: “I’m very excited to see Kip again. He’s such an inspiring golfer to me and the number one in the world. Coming back to see him is such a blessing. My game’s going pretty well since our first session. I’ve gone to a few overseas tournaments and also been balancing my academics well too.”
Two years ago, Popert helped Ma to add a new dimension to his driving game. Today, in front of his proud mum, Ma demonstrated to Popert his chipping technique as he continues his journey to become the golfer he hopes to be.
Popert said: “Andreas’ short game is amazing. He mentioned that the long irons are a challenging point of his game, and I’ll be honest, that will always be a challenge. But he has overcome a lot more. For me, long irons are tough as well, just because as disabled sports people, with our challenges, obviously my leg and Andreas’ arm, we don’t generate the speed and need quite a bit of speed to hit say a four iron quite well. But then if you can become a wizard with other clubs and putting, it doesn’t matter as much.
“I told Andreas to think of it as a challenge and an opportunity to get amazing at other parts of the game. He is off a sixteen handicap already, and I think he is about three feet taller than he was last time I saw him, so I just hope he keeps getting better and keeps progressing.
“He mentioned that Hong Kong Golf Club supports him here, and I’m extremely grateful to them for giving Andreas a place to play in practice because it’s an awesome golf course and awesome people, and Andreas deserves the opportunity.”
Ma added: “Kipp helped me work on some short game, some short chips, high and low chips and controlling the spin and the rollout.
He said: “This session has been really important to me. I got to meet Kipp again, and after two years, our reunion was such a great experience. I hope that I can play a round with him soon,” said Ma, who was hosted to play in today’s LHKO Pro-Am with Andy Ogletree by The Hong Kong Jockey Club, the Official Community Partner of the tournament.
The Hong Kong Open is the city’s oldest professional sporting event – joining only one other club worldwide as hosts of the same tournament for over six decades, the other being Augusta National Golf Club and the US Masters. LHKO 2026 champion will earn an automatic invitation to compete at the Masters at Augusta National and a direct starting spot as part of the Open Qualifying Series at St Andrews in 2027, making the event one of the most important and appealing to players on the Asian Tour.
The world class LHKO 2026 field is led by the 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, former world number one Lee Westwood, and 21-time tour champion Paul Casey. Also in the field are one of the sport’s most compelling comeback stories Anthony Kim, South Africans Branden Grace who has recorded top-10 finishes in three of the four Majors and 14-time tour winner Dean Burmester, and the first African American golfer in history to earn a PGA Tour card Harold Varner III have also confirmed for this year’s event.
Hometown hero Taichi Kho will spearhead the local challenge. The 25-year-old first played the Hong Kong Open as the youngest amateur in 2017. Since turning professional in 2023, Kho has won two titles, including the World City Championship that year on home soil. His other accolades include individual gold and team bronze in the men’s competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games and a victory earlier this year in Morocco.
With its history and international prestige, the tournament has been playing an integral role in showcasing Hong Kong as a top global events destination and sport tourism hub for over six decades.
Admission to the opening rounds of the Link Hong Kong Open 2026 on Thursday and Friday, 22 and 23 October, is free for the public.
In keeping with the tournament and title sponsor’s vision to take golf to all communities of Hong Kong, ticket prices for the Link Hong Kong Open 2026 have been frozen at current prices since 2023.
The Link Hong Kong Open 2026 is proud of being an “M” Mark event that helps enhance the image of Hong Kong as Asia’s sports event capital. The “M” Mark awarded by the Major Sports Events Committee, symbolising intense, spectacular and signature event in the territory sports calendar.
Daily prices for Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25 October, are HKD200 per day or HKD300 for a weekend pass. weekend passes are also free for spectators 18 and under.