20th Oct 2015 | Golf
Hong Kong Open Trends
The European Tour joins forces with the best from Asia for the Hong Kong Open. We look at the trends of past winners.
Having hosted the event since 1959, the Hong Kong Golf Club is rich in heritage and we have plenty of course form to go on. In recent years, the Hong Kong Open has been farmed by European players; only Lin Wen-tang and Scott Hend have managed to break the monopoly with surprise victories in 2008 and 2014 respectively.
With only two par 5s, this tight course has a premium on accuracy over length. An average winning score of -14.8 (last five years) suggests birdies are needed but keeping bogeys off the card is just as important. Ian Poulter went 56 holes before his first dropped shot on the way to victory in 2010. We have looked at the last five winners to see if any trends emerge:
Top-60 on tour for GIRs.
In 2010 Ian Poulter hit 62/72 greens in regulation, a whopping 86%. Rory McIlroy wasn’t far behind him, hitting 81% of greens on the way to victory in 2012. The last three winners all averaged over 75%. Players who find the greens and avoid mistakes have an excellent record at the event.
Top-60 on tour in putts per GIR
GIRs in isolation don’t make for a good round, putts need to be drained, especially when the winning score is around the 15-under mark. Seven of the last eight winners ranked inside the top-60 on tour for this metric.
Players that fit both trends:
Anirban Lahiri 25/1 Bet365
Miguel Angel Jimenez 28/1 Paddy Power
Roope Kakko 160/1 Bet365
Justin Walters 300/1 Stan James
Odds correct at time of publishing: 10:24 20th Oct, 2015 but subject to change