Rose wins battle for Hong Kong Open

England’s Justin Rose came out on top in a tense final round fight with Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark to win the UBS Hong Kong Open by a single shot.

Justin Rose and Lucas Bjerregaard shared the lead through 54-holes in Hong Kong and there remained little to separate them on Sunday.

Bjerregaard reached the turn two strokes ahead, but a birdie from Rose on the 10th and a dropped shot from Bjerregaard on the 11th meant the pair were level-pegging as they stood on the 12th tee.

It wasn’t until the Dane slipped up with a double-bogey on the 14th that Rose found himself with a meaningful advantage. He extended that lead with a birdie at the 16th and that meant he could afford to drop a shot at the final hole and still win by one.

Four men shared third place – Patrick Reed of the USA, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, Soomin Lee of South Korea and Australia’s Jason Scrivener.

4 Talking points from the Hong Kong Open

1 – This was Justin Rose’s first European Tour title since the 2014 Scottish Open. He has now won in each of his last four European Tour seasons. It was his eighth European Tour victory in all, and it could move him into fifth place on the Official World Golf Ranking. After Matthew Fitzpatrick at Woburn and Andy Sullivan last week in Portugal, this was a third straight English victory on the European Tour. Justin Rose has now earned more than €19 million on the circuit during his 18 year career.

Justin Rose on how to win:

2 – Another battle was raging in Fanling on Sunday: the fight to secure playing rights for 2016. England’s Matt Ford finished in seventh place to force his way into the all-important top 110 on the Race to Dubai standings. But, there was heartbreak for Ford’s countryman Ben Evans. Despite ending the week in a tie for 11th, he came up agonisingly shy, in 111th spot.

3 – Matthew Fitzpatrick looked set to secure third place on his own but he dropped three shots in his last four holes. Even so, it was another superb finish for the youngster and it will see him climb further up the Race to Dubai standings and the World Ranking. Lucas Bjerregaard has also shown excellent, late-season form: After a tie for third in Italy, he was tied fifth in the European Open and tied ninth last week in Portugal. This result will see him in with an excellent chance of making the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

4 – After securing a late entry to this tournament in his bid to play the required 13 events to maintain European Tour membership, Ian Poulter started promisingly with opening rounds of 67 and 66, but a third round of 73 spoiled his chances and he ended the week in a tie for 29th place on five-under-par.

UBS Hong Kong Open Hong Kong GC, Fanling, Hong Kong Oct 22-25 Purse: €1,700,000, par 70

1    Justin Rose (Eng)        65    66    64    68    263    €289,947 2    Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 66    66    63    69    264    €193,298 T3    Soomin Lee (Kor)        70    69    66    64    269    €82,636 T3    Patrick Reed (USA)    68    69    65    67    269    €82,636 T3    Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 67    67    66    69    269    €82,636 T3    Jason Scrivener (Aus)    68    68    65    68    269    €82,636 T7    Wen-tang Lin (Tai)    67    68    68    67    270    €42,362 T7    Matt Ford (Eng)        69    65    67    69    270    €42,362 T7    Y.E. Yang (Kor)        68    66    67    69    270    €42,362 T7    Anirban Lahiri (Ind)    67    67    65    71    27    €42,362

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage