The Hong Kong Open this week presents another opportunity for us to find a winner and finish the year big a bang.
The tournament is played at the Hong Kong Golf Club which is a Par 70 course measuring 6,734 yards. It is a parklands type layout that is rather undulating with several trees coming into play along the fairways.
The prize purse is US$1.3 million for this co-sanctioned event between the Asian Tour and European Tour.
Several big names have had success here over the years such as Defending Champion Miguel Angel Jimenez who is looking for his fourth win here after victories in 2012, 2007 and 2004. Other notables are Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter, Colin Montgomerie, Padriag Harrington and Fredrick Jacobson.
This week the bookies Top 5 are 8/1 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 16/1 Marcus Fraser, 16/1 Thorbjorn Olesen, 22/1 Rafael Cabrera Bello and 33/1 Fredrik Andersson Hed.
Other known players include 33/1 Soren Hansen, 33/1 Jyoti Randhawa, 45/1 Wenchong Liang, 50/1 Prom Meesawat and 60/1 Peter Lawrie.
The two players to follow are-
Sung-hoon Kang 33/1 www.sportbet.com.au
Playing on the web.com tour Sung-hoon played in 21 tournaments and made 11 cuts for only 3 Top 25 finishes. At this stage he was ranked No.872 in the World.
From there he jumped over to the Korean Golf Tour where he finished T6th in the Shinhan Donghae Open behind PGA Tour player Sang-moon Bae. It was then onto the Asian Tour where Kang won the CJ Invitational hosted by KJ Choi by 5 shots. He beat players like Aphibarnrat, Kruger, CJ Choi and Randhawa.
The following week he played on One Asia Tour in the Korean Open and won that too! He was a one stroke winner from Rory McIlroy in second place. McIlroy went on to win the Australian Open 6 weeks later.
It was then back to the Korean Tour where Sung-hoon finished T17th in the Hearld Tour Championship.
In the space of 6 weeks he jumped to No.287 in the World. He is now riding the crest of a form wave and must be feeling very confident in his game.
At 33/1 Kang represents a great each way prospect and should be looked at closely while his game is in such good shape.
Chapchai Nirat 40/1 www.sportsbet.com.au
Nirat is a selection this week based on both his current form and the year he has had on the Asian Golf Tour.
From 18 starts this year he has had 9 Top 25 finishes. Early in the season he was T10th at the Myanmar Open and T8th in the SAIL Open.
His last three tournaments have shown signs of a possible peak in form with T9th Indian Open, T25th Manila Open and T2nd Indonesian Open.
This will be his sixth start in the Hong Kong Open with his previous best result coming in 2010 when he finished 25th.
Stats wise on the Asian Tour he is ranked 11th in stroke average, 3rd in total birdies, 7th in greens in regulation and 6th in bounce back percentage.
For a player having a good season, who is hitting it well at present and has three career victories to his name, Nirat looks like a genuine contender at 40/1.
Good luck and good punting.
