LIV Golf Hong Kong: record crowds wowed by thrilling finish, as city’s richest sporting event boosts global profile
- Tens of thousands flock to Hong Kong Golf Club for biggest tournament ever staged, and star Paul Casey hails ‘fantastic residents’
- Officials thrilled with turnout in Fanling, and government says it ‘bears testimony to Hong Kong as Asia’s events capital’
The biggest crowd Hong Kong Golf Club has ever seen braved cold temperatures and torrential rain to watch a thrilling finish to the richest sporting tournament the city has ever staged.
More than 12,000 people, including the likes of sports and tourism minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and Legislative Council president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, plus visitors from some 30 overseas destinations, made their way to Fanling on Sunday for the final round of the LIV Golf event.
Offering US$25 million in total prize money, some US$8 million more than the Longines Hong Kong International Races last December, the tournament was granted “M” Mark status and HK$16 million in government funding.
And on a day of firsts, Abraham Ancer overcame Cameron Smith and Paul Casey in a three-way play-off to secure his maiden individual LIV title in front of a crowd that was five or six deep in some places.
Casey is no stranger to the city, having previously played in the Hong Kong Open, and said he “loved this place”, adding that while the 2023 LIV tournament in Adelaide was the benchmark, Hongkongers “should be very proud of themselves”.
“Cities are made by their residents, and they are fantastic people,” the Englishman said.
