Tom McKibbin has punched his ticket to Augusta National and Royal Birkdale and captured his second professional victory with a sublime final-round performance at the Hong Kong Open.
Starting the day with a one-stroke lead over American MJ Maguire – a 2024 International Series winner on the Asian Tour – and an additional stroke over Peter Uihlein and Kiradech Aphibarnrat, the 22-year-old started in perfect fashion with a birdie at the first, and followed up with another on the par-5 third and suddenly, the lead was three.
Steady golf over the remaining holes on the front saw him close out the nine with another birdie and five pars and he made the turn with a two-stroke cushion over Uihlein.
At this point, McKibbin put the foot down, reeling off four birdies in the following five holes to take a stranglehold on the competition and another birdie on the 17th saw him take an eight-stroke lead to the 18th tee. With the luxury of such a strong advantage, he could afford to bogey the last and still set a new tournament scoring record at -27, seven clear of Uihlein in second with Maguire, Louis Oosthuizen and Tomoyo Ikemura sharing third one stroke adrift.
The victory at Hong Kong Golf Club sees him follow in the footsteps of fellow Irish legends, Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy who both have their name etched on the trophy.
“I played some of the best golf I’ve probably ever played,” McKibbin said afterwards. “So to play that sort of golf and shoot those scores around here is pretty special.
“That means a lot [setting the new low-scoring record]. I mean, with so much history behind it and so many great players that have won this tournament, to have the scoring record is pretty special and something that will live with me forever.
“Two shots or three shots can go very quickly here, so it was a little strange building that sort of lead coming in, but I just tried to keep taking advantage of the holes that were birdie chances – par-5s and wedge opportunities.”
The victory is McKibbin’s second since turning professional; the first coming at the Porsche European Open in Germany back in 2023, but as part of the newly-revised major qualification series, McKibbin is now destined for Augusta National in April and for Royal Birkdale in July. He also gets the first prize of $360,000.
“Yeah, very excited to go back and play my third Open,” he said. “And it will be very, very cool to have that drive down Magnolia Lane for the first time ever. It’ll be even more special.
“You know, I think historic tournaments like this deserve their spots and it’s great to sort of take advantage of this.”
Having grown up watching Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy playing in Masters Tournaments and winning majors, it’s a dream come true for McKibbin to be following in their footsteps and playing at Augusta National for the first time. And he had a message for other kids watching back in Northern Ireland.
“Just follow your dreams,” he said. “I’ve dreamt of doing this since I was a young kid and yeah, they come true if you dream hard enough.”
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