HONG KONG: “The Hong Kong Open – Celebrating Champions since 1959!” That particular tag line will not apply for this year’s European Tour and Asian Tour co-sanctioned golf tournament, which was scheduled to take place at Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling from November 28 to December 1.
The first event on the European Tour’s 2019-20 calendar has become the latest sporting casualty of the ongoing political unrest raging across the island. The two tours jointly took the decision to postpone the Hong Kong Open. Organisers are hoping to reschedule the tournament to early 2020.
European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said in a statement: “The decision has been taken due to the ongoing level of social unrest in Hong Kong.
“As the safety of our players, staff, stakeholders and everyone involved in each and every one of our tournaments around the world is our top priority, we feel this is the correct, but unfortunate, course of action.
“The European Tour thanks everyone at the Hong Kong Golf Association, the Hong Kong Golf Club and all persons associated with the Hong Kong Open for their hard work in endeavouring to stage the tournament and we look forward to hopefully returning early next year.”
Several sporting events have been cancelled due to the unrest, including the PGA Tour-China’s Clearwater Bay Open and the Hong Kong Open tennis and squash tournaments.
