Published July 17, 2008 on March 17, 2018

Hak Stays Ahead at Chengdu Championship

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The Chengdu crowds were out in force as Hong Kong’s Shun-yat “Jason” Hak remained on course for a wire-to-wire win at the RMB 1. 5 million Chengdu Championship, the opening event on this season’s PGA TOUR Series-China.

Following rounds of 64 and 68, the Beijing-based Hak shot a 3-under 69 at Luxehills International Country Club to move to 15-under overall, two ahead of English playing partner James Maw (68).

The pair will again play together in the final group on Sunday when they will be joined by 20-year-old Chinese hope Yanwei “William” Liu, who shot a bogey-free 66 to move to 12-under.

England’s Callum Tarren (68) and USA’s Jeffrey Kang (66) are also 12-under, one ahead of China’s Daxing Jin, who shot a best-of-the-day 65, Japan’s Kenta Konishi (69), Korea-born American Sejun Yoon (67) and Indonesia’s Rory Hie (67).

Hak, 24, said he would “not back down” in his bid for a first PGA TOUR Series-China win as he maintained a focused attitude on and off the course, but said he enjoyed playing in front of the large galleries at Luxehills.

“I love it. The Chengdu crowds are great, I love them. I feel I could have definitely played better golf, but it is what it is, you can’t look back. Everything I already hit has become history so I need to look for what’s important now and just got to keep playing,” said Hak, who won his first pro title last year.

“I just need to keep making aggressive swings, and not back down. I’m sure nobody is going to back down to let me win, so I need to stay focused, trust it and hit it.”

Hak is working with Pang Qiliang, Zecheng Dou’s former caddie, for only the second event, but said the pair were gelling quickly.

“We met each other a couple of years ago and I know he’s at a professional level and we have a good match. It’s only the second tournament and we are already getting much better with each other, so I’m really looking forward to it. I think we’re going to keep getting better and better.”

Maw, 28, bogeyed the par-5 opener before racking up five birdies, including on the par-five 18th, as he seeks a win in his PGA TOUR Series-China debut, having come through the Monday qualifier.

“It was good. The crowds were good, a bit different, as we don’t get that at home. I’ve had a few like that on the [European] Challenge Tour. It’s good fun,” Maw said.

“I wasn’t expecting to be in a position like this so early in the season. I think if someone gets to 18 or 19-under, you still have a chance, but Jason started off great today so if he does that tomorrow, he might be a bit hard to catch.”

Liu, China’s seventh-ranked player, also enjoyed strong support as he surged up the leaderboard to put himself in contention for a first title on Tour.

“I think today’s the best I played this week. I was really happy with no bogeys and I think I only missed two greens today. It was just really solid all round. I started off putting pretty well, hit a lot of good iron shots, drove it pretty well, so everything was pretty good,” Liu said.

“Obviously, it’s good to have crowd support, but tomorrow – just like today – I just have to play one shot at a time, follow my course plan and see how it comes out.”

Every tournament on this year’s PGA TOUR Series-China offers RMB 1.5 million, a 25-percent increase over purse levels from 2016. The first eight of 14 tournaments have been confirmed, with next week’s Chongqing Championship followed by two events in May, two in June and at least two in July.

The PGA TOUR established PGA TOUR Series-China in 2014 as its third international developmental tour, following in the footsteps of PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada. Since its inception, PGA TOUR Series-China players have received Official World Golf Ranking points for top finishes at official tournaments.