Asian Tour: John Catlin claims Hong Kong Open title on historic day for golf in city

In the end there was no Sunday shoot-out to determine the winner of the Link Hong Kong Open, just John Catlin cruising to a five-shot victory on a historic day for golf in the city.

The American’s six-under-par 64 took him to 20 under overall, and the only blip on an otherwise perfect day was a bogey at the par-3 5th.

Not that it mattered, Catlin had no need to outgun his rivals, with Hongkonger Matthew Cheung and Finland’s Kalle Samooja at 15 under the closest the field got to depriving him of the places at next year’s Masters and Open Championship that came with his triumph.

“It’s like a dream come true,” Catlin said. “I remember when I was five, 7, 10 years old, practising, hitting putts to win the Masters; it’s been a long time coming, a lot of hard work, a lot of times when I wasn’t sure what was coming, but you just kind of held the faith. To finally be at the Masters, speechless.”