All the best lines from those who were in contention as last week’s Link Hong Kong Open where American John Catlin stormed to victory and Matthew Cheung from Hong Kong also had his say on and off the course.

First Round

Former Order of Merit winner Anirban Lahiri from India after taking the first-round lead with a 62:

• “Very happy, very happy. I think, you know, playing last week at home, I had a good weekend where I started getting into a decent rhythm. Obviously, a lot of time off after my last event on LIV. I had some time to kind of take a break. Started working back on my game a few weeks ago. So, yeah, been hard at work, and yeah, I’m happy to kind of bring that same kind of momentum and rhythm into this week from last weekend.

On what was working well after his nine-birdie round:

• “I think I did a good job of keeping it in play. Kept it mostly in the fairway, I think that’s key to control the ball. I mean, the golf course is quite firm, it’s probably going to get firmer through the week. So if you can keep finding the short grass, you’ll give yourself a lot of looks. Yeah, I made a few more putts today from outside of 10 feet, nothing crazy, but I gave myself a lot of looks. I mean, I know I made nine birdies, but there were at least another five or six inside 15 feet that didn’t go in. So you know, that’s a really solid ball striking round overall.”

Australian Kevin Yuan joined Lahiri on top of the leaderboard after also recording nine birdies against a lone bogey:

• “Definitely, things went my way. I felt the swing feel a lot better today than it’s been in a long time, which I’m happy about, and hopefully I’ll keep this form. Yeah, there’s still things that I do need to just watch out for, because this year has been up and down for me. I’ve had some good moments and some bad moments, so hopefully I’ll just keep the momentum from today.”

On the quality of his ball striking in round one he said:

• “I hit some great shots today. Like on hole number nine, one of the hardest holes on the golf course. Hit two great shots, like great tee shot, had 204 to the pin, and hit probably the best four iron I’ve had all year. Gave myself a six-footer for birdie, and I made a great putt there to birdie it.”

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, the 2019 Order of Merit champion, on making back-to-back eagles on holes 13 and 14 on the way to posting a 63:

• “I think I never done it before, so it’s the first one. Pretty simple, actually, on the par five just drove down the middle, hit six iron on the green, and made the putt from like 20 feet, I would say. So really, really good eagle, very standard. And the next one, I just hit three wood off the tee, had 126 yards left, I think. I hit my pitching wedge and I thought it was long because it was quite gusty with the wind. And when I got up, it was two balls, one on the back, one on just short of the hole. I went straight to the back of the back of the green, just to see if it’s my ball. But they were like, “No, no, no, your ball is back there”, so I had to walk back and pick up my ball.”

Second Round

American Caleb Surratt after posting the joint-lowest round of the day with a 62 to sit in second place after 36 holes:

• “Yeah, it was great round. Yeah, I’ve played a lot of solid golf. Been playing solid recently, and yeah, I kind of felt like I was firing early and I didn’t really hit the worst three wood ever on 14 today, but my ball got stuck in a tree so I ended up making a double. But you know, you’re kind of not defined on what happens, but how you bounce back. And I was definitely proud of the continued fight all day. I could have let that kill me, and I sure am proud of the way I came back from that.”

On what was the best part of his game in his 11-birdie round he said:

• “I think my mind; I was just in a good spot all day. You know, I actually haven’t felt like I’ve had the best control of the ball so far this week, but I’ve managed my misses really well. And you know, I have hit a lot of really good shots, but I’ve been managing my bad ones when I’ve had to face adversity, I’ve faced it very well.”

Local favourite Matthew Cheung from Hong Kong tied Surratt’s 62 to take the lead on -14 summing up his first two rounds and said:

• “I mean, it’s been fantastic. The crowds out there have been phenomenal. The support from friends, family, and people I don’t know honestly, has been great as well. And obviously I’m playing some really good golf, but we’re only halfway through the tournament, so hopefully another two good days, and we’ll see where we are.”

Asked if he felt like he has elevated his game to a new level this week he said:

• “Yeah, I mean, a lot of what I’ve been able to do over the last couple months is thanks to my coach Jon Wallett, as well as my swing coach Mark Smith, and my wife [Kaitlin], honestly, and my kids, my kid, just one. But yeah, the switch to the long putter has really helped me as well. I always thought I struggled in the past with the putting, but ever since I switched to that, I feel really confident out there now, and I think it’s becoming one of my strengths.”

Third Round

American John Catlin after his 65 to be tied for the lead on -14 after Saturday’s play:

• “You know me and my coach have put in a lot of work, just kind of tightening things up a little bit and it’s just nice seeing some of the fruits of that. I mean I’ve been hitting it better and better and just was kind of waiting for the putter to get a bit hot, and it’s been good. It’s been good so far, and you know we got one more day.”

Asked how much the prospect of the Link Hong Kong Open title, and spots in The Open and Masters Tournament, will be on his mind during the round on Sunday he said:

• “Ah, of course. You know, be my it be my fifth opened and my first Masters. But we got 18 holes, a lot of great golfers, a lot of birdies you got to make out there. You know, it’s a very tightly packed leaderboard, so you got to be ready. You got to come out from come out from the start and you know be ready to fight.”

Cheung, who had a tough day on the course after coming in with a 72, was asked if he was happy to be in this position (T5) despite his over-par round:

• “100%, you know if you asked me at the start of the week if I would be happy to be within two of the lead heading into Sunday I would be ecstatic. Not the best day out there but I grinded it out there.”

Finland’s Kalle Samooja, recently back from a long injury break, fired the lowest round of the day with a 63 to sit two off the lead:

• “Of course, it was a good day overall. I think the game was there already yesterday, even the first day, but I just couldn’t get the game quite going. But today, you know, I got got off to a good start, birded the first hole, third hole and fourth hole, so you know from then onwards, you know I was really on it. And yeah, happy to have a round like this on Saturday.”

Describing the nature of the injury he explained:

• “Yeah, so I had a surgery on my left wrist, TFCC, last August. I was out 14 months without playing tournaments, and I also had a hernia that was operated on. So, a little oil change for my almost 40-year-old body, which hopefully now keeps going the next 10 years. So yeah, 14 months without playing a tournament, and now this is the fifth or sixth event back, so the game feels good, the hand feels all right, so I’m just happy to be playing again.”

Final Round

Catlin, posting a rock-solid 64 on Sunday to win by a dominant five shots, on what the victory means to him:

• “Hard to put it hard to put it into words. Really, you know, it was an event that I felt like I could do well at that I hadn’t really done well in the previous years, and so you know, to come out and play some really, really solid golf and you know get the job done it’s very, very special and you know anytime you can be on a trophy with some of the greatest players to ever play the game, you know I just feel very humbled and very grateful.”

On adding two majors, The Open and the Masters Tournament to his 2027 schedule after following the win:

• “It’s like a dream come true. I mean, 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 you know you weren’t sure what was coming. But you just kind of held held the faith, and I just kept working, me and my coach Noah Montgomery, we just continue to put in the work, and to finally be at the Masters, speechless. It’s just the culmination of a long, long time coming.”

Cheung also had a great Sunday producing a 67 which earned him a T2 in the tournament, the best ever result by a Hong Kong player in the event. He said:

• “Soaking this all in. It’s fantastic to see so many people out here, and you know, people calling my name. I had a chill going down my spine, walking onto 18 green when they called my name. So that was really cool. Great day. Unfortunately, didn’t get the win, but you know, unbelievable overall. I mean, today I just told myself, you know, I just got to keep playing free. You know, that’s when I played my best golf in the first two rounds, and you know, I know I can do it. I played really good today. Unfortunately, John played really well as well. So, it is what it is. But I’m really happy overall.”

Samooja also posted a 67 playing together with Cheung to tie him in second place, and said:

• “I didn’t really get into a good start with three-putt on the first, but you know after that I started playing a bit better and had some chances. But I just couldn’t get close enough and couldn’t really push John today. He played you know amazingly today, so gotta be pleased with the tied second. I didn’t really know what to expect when I started to come back, so being able to play for the win, of course that’s something I wasn’t really expecting. So, it’s been a great week.”