Gary Player to be LINK Hong Kong Open ambassador for 63rd staging of event
Today marked the start of a new era for Hong Kong’s oldest professional sporting event with the announcement that leading international real estate investor and asset manager Link Asset Management Limited (LINK) will title sponsor the Hong Kong Open golf championship for the next three years starting from 2024.
One of Asia’s oldest and most prestigious golf championships, the LINK Hong Kong Open will be played at The Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling from 21-24 November. It is the 63rd staging of the popular event.
2024 also marks the 135th anniversary of The Hong Kong Golf Club, which has hosted the Open since 1959 – ranking it alongside only the renowned Augusta National Golf Club and the US Masters as golf clubs that have hosted the same professional tournament for over 60 years.
The new sponsorship was announced today at a press conference at The Hong Kong Golf Club at Deep Water Bay with LINK Chief Executive Officer Mr George Hongchoy joining Hong Kong Golf Club Captain Mr Andy Kwok; Mr David Rollo, Chief Operating Officer of the Asian Tour; and Dr Kelvin Inge, President of the Golf Association of Hong Kong, China, in teeing off this year’s excitement.
Andy Kwok, Captain of The Hong Kong Golf Club said: “We cannot wait to welcome back world-class golfers and fans from the Greater Bay Area and beyond for the 63rd edition of the Hong Kong Open at Fanling in this, our 135th anniversary year. This historic championship, the oldest professional sporting event in Hong Kong, always captures the imagination, and with the support of Link Asset Management, we are looking forward to putting on a great show for the community at large.”
George Hongchoy, LINK Chief Executive Officer said: “The LINK Hong Kong Open is a marquee event that showcases our city’s world-class golfing experience, attracting professional and amateur golfers both locally and internationally. Hong Kong’s golf is something that we should be proud of and something worthy of promoting on a bigger scale and making more accessible to local communities. Supporting the Hong Kong Open is a perfect opportunity to showcase LINK as a Hong Kong headquartered company with deep ties to the local community that embraces regional opportunities.”
The LINK Hong Kong Open is again a part of this season’s 10-event The International Series. In its first year on the Series in 2023 the Hong Kong Open was named International Series Tournament of the Year and one of the Players’ Choice for Course of the Year.
International Series tournaments are enhanced to provide more playing opportunities with elevated prize funds and a pathway to the biggest stages in golf. The leading points-scorer in The International Series Rankings receives exemption into the following season’s LIV Golf League.
Held throughout the year across Asia, Europe and the Middle East, The International Series contributes US$23.5 million to the Asian Tour’s 2024 total prize fund. The LINK Hong Kong Open will feature a prize purse of US$2million in 2024.
“We welcome LINK to the growing number of commercial partners involved with Asian Tour. A supporter with the reach and stature of LINK is the ideal partner for one of the region’s foundational golf championships, and we are excited about the knock-on effect this will have on the continued growth of the game in China.
“We are especially excited to feature this historic championship as one of the events on the ground-breaking International Series,” said Mr David Rollo, Chief Operating Officer for the Asian Tour.
Mr Rollo’s comments were echoed by Mr Rahul Singh, Head of The International Series, who said: “The success of the Hong Kong Open as an event on The International Series last season is evident with Hong Kong being named the Players’ choice for Course of the Year as well as the most coveted award of Tournament of the Year. As one of the world’s great cities with one of the world’s great golf clubs, Hong Kong is the perfect city to host an International Series event and we look forward to returning in 2024,” said Mr Singh.
Asian Tour star Taichi Kho, reigning gold medallist of the Asian Games, proud Medal of Honour recipient and first Hong Kong-born winner on the Asian Tour, at the 2023 World City Championship Presented by The Hong Kong Golf Club, joined today’s announcement by video conference.
“I am excited to be returning to the Hong Kong Open in 2024 and want to congratulate the tournament on its new partnership with LINK. It is great to see Hong Kong brands supporting iconic events like the Hong Kong Open and proves that golf continues to go from strength to strength in the city.
“The Hong Kong Open and Hong Kong Golf Club has had a formative role in my career, and I am really looking forward to playing alongside some of the world’s best in front of my home galleries again this November. I hope to see many local fans in Fanling at the LINK Hong Kong Open,” said Kho, last season’s Asian Tour rookie of the year.
Kho will be joined at his home Open by defending champion Ben Campbell of New Zealand. Campbell beat Australia’s Cameron Smith and Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai by one stroke last year in an emotional victory after recovering from a debilitating injury. He has maintained his form since then, enjoying a series of strong results, including a second win on The International Series in Morocco this July.
Other international stars participating will be revealed in the coming weeks, but one of the game’s true legends in Mr Gary Player is confirmed to appear at Fanling after being named the ambassador for the tournament in 2024.
Player, an inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, is widely known as golf’s premier international ambassador. As one of the sport’s most decorated winners worldwide with 165 tournament victories on six continents over seven decades, Player is the perfect ambassador for the LINK Hong Kong Open, which has been catalyzing the growth of the game in Asia since the 1950s.
LINK Hong Kong Open 2024 is the latest in a series of professional tournaments that have drawn tens of thousands of local fans and tourists to Hong Kong Golf Club since 2023, including last year’s Hong Kong Open, the Aramco Team Series and the World City Championship, and the debut of LIV Golf in Hong Kong earlier this year.
Amongst these world-class sports and entertainment events, the tradition and lore of the Hong Kong Open stands alone.
The Hong Kong Open list of past champions reads like a who’s who of global golf with some of the most impressive names in the game’s history, from Asian legends like Hsieh Yung-yo to western stars like Peter Thomson, Ian Woosnam, Greg Norman, Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson, Rory McIlroy, Jose Maria Olazabal, and Miguel Angel Jimenez, winner of the event record four times.
With continuing International Series status, a US$2 million purse, and a chance to make golf history on the line, another field of world-class stars is expected to thrill the audiences flocking to the LINK Hong Kong Open 2024.
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 2024 have been frozen at last year’s levels.
Admission to the opening rounds on Thursday and Friday, 21-22 November, is free for the public.
Daily prices for Saturday and Sunday 23 and 24 November are $200 per day or $300 for a weekend pass. Tickets will be on sale soon.
