The Link Hong Kong Open boasts a glittering list of past champions that is unprecedented in the region.

Some of the all-time greats of the game have raised the trophy, including multiple major champions Australian Peter Thomson (1960, 1965, 1967), his countryman Greg Norman (1979, 1982), Germany’s Bernhard Langer (1991), American Tom Watson (1992), and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (2011), to name but a few.

One of the reasons for this is that the storied tournament draws one of the strongest fields of the year in the region every season.

The line-up is always awash with household names from home and abroad, with this year is no exception.

All of the top-10 from the Asian Tour Order of Merit (OOM) are competing, eight winners from this year’s Asian Tour are in attendance, plus six former OOM champions.

The event’s reputation for attracting some of the biggest names in the game will also be upheld with over a dozen marquee players set to grace the fairways on the Composite Course, here at the Hong Kong Golf Club.

Louis Oosthuizen.

Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert arrives here leading the Merit list. He moved to the top when won the Yeangder TPC last month and having finished in the top-10 in the ensuing two events he is the Asian Tour’s in-form player.

As well as the prestige of winning the OOM, the champion will also earn a DP World Tour card for next so with just one event remaining after Hong Kong – the Philippine Open presented by the Philippine Sports Commission – this week will be crucial in determining the outcome at the end of the season.

Hong Kong’s number one Taichi Kho also has a chance to win the Merit list as he is in fourth place on the OOM – particularly if he becomes the first local player to win the Hong Kong Open.

Pavit and Kho are two of the eight winners from the Asian Tour this year, as is Wang Wei-hsuan. The Chinese-Taipei star claimed the SJM Macao Open last Sunday following a gripping sudden-death play-off against Korean Sungjae Im.

The six players here who have already enjoyed the privilege of being crowned the OOM champion are Japan’s Kazuki Higa (2025), John Catlin (2024) from the United States, his countrymen Andy Ogletree (2023) and Sihwan Kim (2022), Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond (2019), Malaysian Gavin Green (2017) and India’s Anirban Lahiri (2015).

Travis Smyth.

Also hoping to have their name inscribed on the trophy for the first are a host of global winners, that includes: Englishman Lee Westwood and Paul Casey, South Africans Louis Oosthuizen, Dean Burmester and Branden Grace, plus Americans Anthony Kim, Kevin Na and Harold Varner III. Korean Ben An, Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz and Thomas Pieters from Belgium are also here.

Others to look out for are Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, Spaniard Josele Ballester, and Thailand’s Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat, who turned professional last month following a much-documented brilliant amateur career.

The week will also act as a lap of honour for the Hong Kong amateur team, after their recent victories in the Nomura and Putra Cups.

Jeffrey Shen, the only player to compete in both and winner of the individual title in the Putra Cup, and Markus Lam, who claimed the individual event at the Nomura Cup, will lead the way.

Joon-ho Kim and William Tang, who were part of the Putra Cup team, and Ethan Tian, the other member of the Nomura Cup squad, are also in the starting line up.

England’s Kipp Propert, the game’s star disability golfer, will also tee-off on Thursday. It will be the second time he has competed in the tournament. He also played in 2024, impressively shooting a pair of 71s.

Pictures by Graham Uden/Asian Tour.