HONG KONG, Oct 25 (Reuters) – American John Catlin showed nerves of steel as he held local favourite Matthew Cheung and Finnish opponent Kalle Samooja at bay to win the Hong Kong Open, hitting seven birdies in Sunday’s final round to finish five strokes ahead of his nearest challengers.
Catlin, who won the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2024, hit a six-under 64 in the fourth round to finish 20-under, earning his seventh title on the tour.
Samooja led Cheung by a stroke going into the tricky 18th hole, but hit a bogey and had to settle for a joint second-place finish, as the latter secured the best finish for a Hong Kong player at the tournament in Fanling.
“It’s very, very special. Any time you can be on a trophy with some of the greatest players that ever played the game, I just feel very humble and very grateful,” said Catlin.
The 35-year-old was jointly leading the scoreboard along with Thomas Pieters and Caleb Surratt after the third round, where Cheung slipped from the top with three bogeys on Saturday.
A clinical Catlin shook off a bogey on the fifth hole to take a solo lead on Sunday, and quickly fixed a mistake on the 14th as he found the centre of the green with a precise 120-yard stroke from thick grass to stay on course for a birdie.
Error-prone Pieters and Surratt finished tied for sixth place with Sampson Zheng.
Catlin’s first trophy on the Asian Tour since April 2024 also earned him an invitation to next year’s Open Championship and a maiden qualification for the Masters.
“It’s like a dream come true… it’s been a long time coming, lot of hard work, lot of times when you weren’t sure what was coming but you just kind of held the faith and I just kept working,” Catlin said, shaking his head.
“To finally be at the Masters, speechless.”
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Purulia, India)
