UBS Hong Kong Open

Famously founded by “13 golf enthusiasts” in 1889, no doubt bastions of this exotic Far East trading post, the Hong Kong Golf Club is one of the oldest golfing facilities in the world outside of the United Kingdom.

For a long time known as the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club, until the ‘Royal’ was dropped ahead of the territory’s return to Chinese rule in 1997, the club has had a long and colourful history. Originally located at Happy Valley, Hong Kong’s first golfers were forced to compete against sports like football, polo and hockey for access to some of the bustling city’s famously limited space.

With a growing membership, an additional site was soon found at Deep Water Bay on the island’s south in 1898. However, the need to take a boat or pony ride to reach the then-far flung location was no doubt a tough sell with only enough room for nine holes.

Although additional playing opportunities were soon proffered at Happy Valley, it was the securing of a plot of land in Fanling that allowed the club to really make its mark. Set adjacent to the border with mainland China, the new home allowed the development of Hong Kong’s first 18-hole layout, the Old Course, in 1911.

Further courses were added in 1931 (New Course) and 1970 (Eden Course), with the heritage of the former British colony reflected in the club’s nomenclature – the names are the same as three of the famed courses at St Andrews in Scotland.

The club’s reputation as the pre-eminent golfing facility in Hong Kong has been reinforced by the national Open, played continuously at Fanling since the event’s inception in 1959.

In that time, names such as Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Jose-Maria Olazábal and Colin Montgomerie have taken home the title, triumphing over a Composite Course of holes that have been taken from the New and Eden layouts since 1973.

Although the exact make-up of the tournament’s 18 holes has varied from year to year, Olazábal’s dramatic 2001 victory highlighted one constant – the superb finishing hole.

At only around 410 yards, the real test comes with your second shot, one which trapped James Kingston in 2005. From a downhill lie, a short-iron must carry the pond that lurks in front of the green while avoiding the bunkers that protect it. The dynamic Spaniard had no problems, though, rolling his approach to mere inches and tapping in for a last-hole victory they still talk about on the terraces at Fanling.