Jordan Spieth will headline the Singapore Open in January when it returns after a three-year absence.

AFP/Singapore

Jordan Spieth, the 2015 USPGA Tour player of the year, will headline the Singapore Open in January when it returns after a three-year absence, organisers said yesterday. The 22-year-old world number two, who counts the Masters and US Open among five wins during a breakout 2015, said he was “really looking forward” to playing at the tournament.
“I’m very fortunate to play golf around the world and can’t wait to visit Singapore for the first time,” Spieth, a member of the US team who won the Presidents Cup in South Korea earlier this month, said in a statement.
Under a three-year deal with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the SMBC Singapore Open will offer a minimum prize fund of $1 million and will be held at Sentosa Golf Club from January 28-31.
Formerly one of Asia’s richest with a $6 million purse when last held in November 2012, the tournament was cancelled in 2013 after British bank Barclays chose not to renew its sponsorship.
Previous headline players have included Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Rory McIlroy. Australia’s Adam Scott is a three-time winner with victories in 2005, 2006 and 2010, while Italy’s Matteo Manassero won the last edition in 2012. The tournament will be jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Japan Golf Tour Organisation.

Reed may play in US and European tours next year

World number 20 Patrick Reed could play in both the PGA Tour and European Tour again next year, despite battling a hectic schedule during 2015.   
The American, 25, is currently the only US player who had his PGA Tour card and also chose to play the European Tour, taking up membership of the latter this year.  “I’ve always wanted to do it, so I’m trying it,” he told reporters ahead of the Hong Kong Open.  
“As far as next year I’m not sure yet, I’ll have to see what the schedule is but it’s definitely a possibility.  
“I just have to make sure I schedule the tournaments around when I don’t have a very long stretch like I did here at the end of this year.”  
Asked if other US players might follow his lead, he said: “Maybe, it’s hard to tell. It might be a trend I’ve started... But I’ve always wanted to do it and being young I thought it would be a a good time to start.”  
Texas-born Reed is now ranked 42 in the “Race to Dubai” and is due to face former major winner Justin Rose and world number eight Dustin Johnson in the four-day Hong Kong Open this week. He is yet to win a major but in 2014 triumphed in the WGC-Cadillac Championship—his first European Tour International Schedule victory—beating the previous record of Tiger Woods.

Rose tips rising star Fitzpatrick as contender

Former major winner Justin Rose said yesterday that rising star Matthew Fitzpatrick would be among the toughest contenders at the upcoming Hong Kong Open, but his own chances of winning were still “decent”.
Fitzpatrick, a 21-year-old fellow Briton, won his first European Tour title at the British Masters this month and came second in the Omega European Masters in July behind Danny Willett. Currently 12th in the “Race to Dubai”, he is also ranked 61 in the world.   
Fitzpatrick is “a great young English player who’s been playing incredibly well right now”, Rose said when asked who he would like to beat at the Hong Kong tournament this week.  
“He is going to probably be tough to beat on this golf course. He’s an especially great putter, and keeps the ball in play off the tee.
“But the tour is very strong.... so many players can come out and have a great week and win the tournament. So I’m not singling out anybody. That’s really the great thing about golf is that the golf course is your ultimate competitor,” Rose said.  
Asked what his chances were of winning on Sunday, world number seven Rose described them as “decent”. The Hong Kong Open from October 22-25 is the final event in the European Tour before its lucrative “Final Four” playoff series of tournaments in the “Race to Dubai”, for which only the top 60 on the money list will qualify.
Meanwhile, there's feat that giant spiders and thick jungle await players who stray into the rough at the Hong Kong Open,  according to Reed.  The world number 20, one of the big names competing in the four-day tournament starting tomorrow, told journalists that players would have to be on the ball.  
“It’s quite different from back home,” he said. “If you hit the ball into the trees, it’s like jungle. I saw a wolf spider bigger than my hand.”  
Despite being just 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the skyscrapers of downtown Hong Kong, the Fanling course is surrounded by tree-clad hills where macaque monkeys roam.  
In 2003, a saltwater crocodile—a suspected escaped illegal pet—was spotted in nearby Yuen Long and evaded capture for seven months before she was finally trapped.  
World number seven Rose too is back in Hong Kong after failing to make the cut in 2011 and knows what he is up against.  
Asked how he planned to attack the course, he joked: “From the fairway.”  
He added: “It’s a very strategic golf course, narrow and slopey. It’s more of a thinking man’s golf course than not. My caddie is walking the course, he’s doing a lot of the grunt work.”  
The Englishman said it was great to be back in the southern Chinese city—but stressed he had some unfinished business from his last visit.  
“I have some revenge to try and seek at this golf course. Last time here it got the better of me. I’m looking forward to enjoying a long week—I got kicked off on Friday (last time)."