Flying straight in from Atlanta, following the 7 hour drive back after the last round of Q-School, I eventually arrived into Macau on Monday Morning for the Macau Championship, the next stop on the PGA Tour China. This event would end up being the season ending tournament for the tour due to the political unrest in Hong Kong forced the cancellation of the Clearwater Championship.
I have been fortunate enough to visit Macau several times for the Macau Open when I was playing the Asian Tour, but this event was on the other golf course in this Special Area Region of China. The Caesar’s course in Macau is cut amongst the towering casinos like Studio City, Galaxy World and the Venetian which provide a truly incredible backdrop.
Knowing that this was the last event of the season on this tour, I knew I needed a strong results if I was keep status on the tour for the 2020 season. I played really solid the first two days with rounds of 67 and 66 to see me on the front page of the leaderboard for the third round.
I played reasonably well in the 3rd round in benign conditions eventually shooting a 1 under par 70 which moved me backwards in the field. I would then follow up in the final round with an extremely hard fought 2 under par 69, finishing at -12 and in a tie for 17th. Definitely not the result I was looking for at the final event but a strong one nonetheless. It is events like this one which really highlight the strength of the competition, seeing me shoot -3 on the weekend and losing 10 places. For me that was a wrap on my China campaign for 2019 and one that really carried on with the theme of undercapitalised opportunities. Nevertheless, there was still a lot more travel to be done and golf to be played.
My next event is back in the Philippines on the PGT-Asia Tour in Tarlac City.
Tim Stewart Golf 