Thursday, 4 November 2010:
Colin Montgomerie, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Grégory Bourdy will lead the cast of former European champions to the Fanling stage at the forthcoming UBS Hong Kong Open.
Montgomerie, Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup Captain, and Jiménez, one of Monty’s star men in the unforgettable victory over the USA at Celtic Manor earlier this month, will be joined by defending UBS Hong Kong Open champion Bourdy in The European Tour’s penultimate event of the 2010 season.
“I’m very much looking forward to getting back to the UBS Hong Kong Open,” said Montgomerie. “The Hong Kong Golf Club is one of my favourite venues and, having won there in the past, offers me a great opportunity to get back in the winner’s enclosure.
“It has been too long since my last victory but I am ready to win again – I want to show everyone that I can still compete at the highest level because I know that I can.”
Jiménez added: “Hong Kong is an amazing city and UBS have always put on a great tournament. Of course I have won there twice so I have a lot of good feelings for the tournament but I think that all of the players enjoy Hong Kong and it is a great tournament for us.”
Montgomerie won the UBS Hong Kong Open in 2005, the year after Jiménez secured his first victory at Fanling. The Spaniard won the title again in 2007, 12 months after Lara had flown the flag for Spain at the Hong Kong Golf Club.
Last year it was France who basked in the victory limelight with Bourdy finishing ahead of Rory McIlroy and the rest of the field to become the first Frenchman to win the event since its inception in 1959.
Bourdy is hoping that a return to Fanling can inspire him to defend the title he won so impressively last year as he held off the challenge of a rampaging McIlroy to collect the third European Tour title of his career.
“I’m going to Hong Kong to win again, obviously,” said the Frenchman. “It’s easy to say that but not so easy to do but that will certainly be my intention. It will be a tough title to defend because already you can see that there is going to be a high quality field this year with some of the best players in the world going to Hong Kong.”
The UBS Hong Kong Open is co-sanctioned by the European Tour, the Asian Tour and the Hong Kong Golf Association.
