John Catlin Wins Hong Kong Open by Five Shots at 20 Under, Earns First Masters Invitation
HONG KONG, China — American golfer John Catlin shot a six-under-par 64 in Sunday's final round to win the Hong Kong Open at Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling, finishing at 20 under par (260) for a five-shot victory and his seventh Asian Tour title. Catlin made seven birdies in the final round, according to Reuters.
The 35-year-old from Sacramento, California, who won the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2024, began the final round in a share of the lead. He shook off a bogey on the fifth hole to take a solo lead, and on the 14th he found the center of the green with a precise 120-yard shot from thick rough to stay on course for a birdie. Belgium's Thomas Pieters and American Caleb Surratt finished tied for sixth alongside Sampson Zheng.
Hong Kong's Matthew Cheung and Finland's Kalle Samooja tied for second at 15 under. Samooja led Cheung by a stroke going into the 18th hole but bogeyed it to fall into the tie, while Cheung secured the best finish by a Hong Kong player in the tournament's history at Fanling.
It was Catlin's first Asian Tour trophy since April 2024. The win earned him a maiden invitation to the 2027 Masters at Augusta National and a place in the 2027 Open Championship at St Andrews. "It's like a dream come true," Catlin said. "I remember when I was five, seven, 10 years old, practicing, 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." He added: "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."
Catlin has also won three times on the European Tour and in 2024 shot a 59 in Macau, the first sub-60 round in Asian Tour history. The Hong Kong Open, in its 65th edition with a US$2 million purse, was played from October 22 to 25.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：香港高尔夫球会粉岭球场老球场球道实景（资料照片），本届香港公开赛即在此举行。冠军 John Catlin 本人开放授权照片经查无，以赛场实景图代替。Soybeans 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布。/ The Old Course at Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling, venue of the Hong Kong Open (file photo). No openly licensed photo of champion John Catlin was available. Photo by Soybeans, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
