HONG KONG—The annual Hong Kong Golf Open starts at Fanling today, Thursday Oct 16, and completes on Sunday Oct 19. The star attractions this year is South African Ernie Els.
Els ’the big easy' now 44 years old, but will celebrate his 45 birthday on Friday Oct 17 is so well known he needs no introduction. Els has won 4 majors and over 60 tournaments in total worldwide and is the current all-time-money winner on the European Tour. He was in the top 10 world international ranking for 758 consecutive weeks.
But the big question is can Els outplay four times Hong Kong Open Champion Miguel Angel Jimenez on the Fanling course? Jimenez knows the Fanling course so well he could almost play it in his sleep, he knows all the undulations in the greens and knows when to take a risk and when to play conservatively. Jimenez is a fearsome competitor, takes his time and may not be leading at the end of day-1, but by the final round on Sunday he is likely to be well up the leader board.
