Fitzpatrick on track to recover from Dubai disappointment
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick believes he is right on track to erase his Dubai disappointment after an opening 66 in the UBS Hong Kong Open.
Fitzpatrick led by a shot at halfway in the defence of his DP World Tour Championship title last week, but struggled to a third round of 72 and eventually finished 12th.
That was still the 23-yearold from Sheffield’s seventh straight top-15 finish since he won the Omega European Masters and a round containing six birdies and two bogeys at Fanling left him a shot behind leader SSP Chawrasia.
“It’s a good start to the week,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s not an easy course and listening to Justin Rose talking after the pro-am, he said four rounds of four under would be a good score. I’d definitely take that right now and see where you end up.
“We had a bit of a crowd with us which was great. People are going to be following Tommy [Fleetwood] seeing as he won the Race to Dubai last week.”
Four days after being crowned European No 1 for the 0 Matt Fitzpatrick: A shot off the lead after 66 in Hong Kong. first time, Fleetwood shrugged off the effects of playing his fifth event in a row with a 68 matched by Race to Dubai rival Rose. Rose, who won in Hong Kong in 2015, looked on course to finish ahead of Fleetwood until a bogey on the 18th, where he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker. Masters champion Sergio Garcia also bogeyed the tricky 18th in a round of 69.
Scotland’s Bradley Neil is six shots off the lead after a oneover round of 71. Compatriot David Drysdale is two shots further back. l Paul Casey will represent Europe for the first time in over nine years in January after being selected as a wild card for the Eurasia Cup.
The Englishman was on the winning Ryder Cup teams in 2004 and 2006 but last played for the continent in the 2008 loss to the USA at Valhalla.
Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn will also lead holders Europe against Asia at the Eurasia Cup in Malaysia.
Frenchman Alexander Levy is the other wild card selected by Bjorn to play alongside ten automatic qualifiers made up of English quartet Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Ross Fisher and Matthew Fitzpatrick, Ireland’s Paul Dunne, Spanaird Rafa Cabrera Bello, Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, Belgian Thomas Pieters and Swedish duo Alex Noren and Henrik Stenson. Ronnie O’sullivan saw his hopes of snooker’s first £1 million jackpot end with a shock defeat at the Dafabet Northern Ireland Open to world No 82 Elliot Slessor.
Victory at the English Open last month set up the possibility of the 41-yearold completing a clean sweep of the four “Home Nations” events, for which the seven-figure bonus cheque was on offer.
But a 4-1 loss to Gateshead-born Slessor in the third round in Belfast killed off the prospect of O’sullivan landing the richest prize the sport has ever offered.
He would have needed to win this week, add the Scottish Open title in December and also triumph at the Welsh Open in March. But such has been the strength of O’sullivan’s game in recent weeks that it was beginning to look an achievable goal.
Three centuries in three frames were not enough for John Higgins to reach the last 16 on a wretched afternoon for Scotland’s hopefuls.
The Wishaw man made breaks of 142, 107 and 135 against Gary Wilson in Belfast, going 3-1 up with the stunning snooker that has seen him to 29 ranking titles.
But his English counterpart found the comeback of his life in the tournament’s best match to date, making visits of 84 and 75 while a clearance of 59 saw him to a 4-3 win.
Higgins therefore followed fellow Scots Anthony Mcgill and Ross Muir out of the Waterfront Hall.
A 4-3 scoreline was to be a familiar sight as Mcgill also missed out in the last 32, downed by Li Yuan in the deciding frame.
That proved a shock for the world No 17, finding himself 2-1 and 3-2 down before scoring 125 to force a final-frame thriller in which his Chinese opponent prevailed.
There was also disappointment for Ross Muir who lost 4-3 to David Gilbert. l Watch the Northern Irelandopenliveoneurosport, Eurosport Player and Quest with Colin Murray and daily studio analysis with Neal Foulds.