UBS Champions Asian Golf at UBS Hong Kong Open
[November 28, 2011]: UBS, title sponsor of the UBS Hong Kong Open, has extended sponsor invitations to Chinese ace, Liang Wen-Chong, Hong Kong’s Jason Hak Shun-yat, and up-and-coming Indonesian star, Rory Hie, to play at the tournament.
In addition to its flagship property in Asia Pacific, the UBS Hong Kong Open, UBS sponsored the UBS Japan Golf Tour Championship and was a partner of The Faldo Series Asia in the same period from 2006 until 2009.
“UBS is delighted to invite Liang Wen-Chong, Jason Hak and Rory Hie, to play at this year’s tournament. It is a wonderful opportunity for this talented trio of players and is keeping with UBS’s long tradition of supporting Asian golf, including our title sponsorship of the Hong Kong Open since 2005,” Said Kathryn Shih, CEO, Wealth Management Asia-Pacific for UBS AG.
China’s top-ranked golfer, Liang Wen-Chong (33), turned professional in 1999 and, in 2007, became the first Chinese player to win the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit after a superb season where he clinched one victory and eight top-10s.
In 2010, Liang enjoyed his best result in a Major tournament when he placed tied eighth at the US PGA Championship, shooting a course record, 64, at Whistling Straits. He missed only one cut on the Asian Tour in that season with his best finish in tied-10th at the Barclays Singapore Open.
Liang’s goal is to represent China at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Underlining UBS’s commitment to extend the excitement of the UBS Hong Kong Open to the wider community, Liang Wen-Chong will co-host a clinic with world number-two Rory McIlroy for the Hong Kong Special Olympics Golf Team in Fanling on 2nd December 2011.
Hong Kong’s Jason Hak Shun-Yat, stunned the golf world at the 2008 UBS Hong Kong Open when he became the youngest player to make the cut on the European Tour.
At only 14 years and 304 days old, Hak entered the record books by shattering the previous record – 15 years and 46 days – set by Spain’s Sergio Garcia in 2005.
Hak is widely regarded as a future flag-bearer for Hong Kong golf. Still only 17, Hak is continuing his golf education in the United States and has signed a letter of intent to attend the prestigious golf programme at Georgia Tech University.
A few months ago, Tsim Sha Tsui-born Hak, moved to number two in the American Junior Golf Association thanks to a brilliant seven-stroke victory at the prestigious Rolex Tournament of Champions at Sunriver Resort- a victory that also elevated him into the 70s in the R&A’s World Amateur Golf rankings. More recently, Hak was a member of the Hong Kong, China Golf team at last year’s Asian Games and this year’s Putra Cup.
Hak will play in the Pro-Am on 28th November alongside Miss Law Yuen-ling, a gold medalist at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens in 2011.
The final sponsor invitation was extended to Rory Hie, who turned professional in 2008 after making his mark as one of the top-10 amateurs in the world. Having honed his golf skills while at college in California, Hie became the first Indonesian to earn playing rights on the Asian Tour when he finished in the top 40 in the 2009 Qualifying School in Thailand.
Hie, who is just 22 years old, is starting to fulfill the early promise he showed as an amateur. The talented Indonesian won the China PGA Championship Tang Shan Leg in September 2011 by 7 shots, becoming the first Indonesian golfer to win an international professional golf tournament outside Indonesia.