Lin seals Hong Kong Open with playoff victory

Taiwan's Lin Wen-tang birdied the second playoff hole to edge out Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari in a dramatic climax to the Hong Kong Open on Sunday, becoming the event's first Asian winner in a decade.

The three players had finished the co-sanctioned tournament on 15 under and Italy's Molinari was the first to be eliminated on the opening extra hole when he could manage only a par-four on the 18th before a packed gallery.

Lin appeared to blow his chances on the same hole when he pulled a drive into the rough.

However, he nailed an audacious 150-yard wedge shot through a tiny gap in the trees to land his approach to within six feet of the pin and made a birdie to force a second-hole playoff with Northern Ireland's McIlroy.

"At first I didn't know what to do...but I told myself to do my best to hit this shot towards the green and maybe God helped me, because I made it," Lin said.

On the next hole, the 18th again, McIlroy scuffed his drive into the left rough, while Lin drove straight down the fairway and chipped to within inches of the cup to set up his biggest victory.

The last Asian to win the Hong Kong Open was South Korea's Kang Wook-soon in 1998.