With the dust barely settled on a captivating 2017 season which reached a dramatic conclusion at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates, the 2018 season got underway as Australia’s Wade Ormsby struck first blood in the Race to Dubai by securing his maiden title at the UBS Hong Kong Open.

The 37 year old finally entered the winner’s circle in his 264^th European Tour event in Fanling to earn 333,330 points and shoot to the top of the season-rankings. With a long season ahead, the victory gives him a great chance of making a second appearance at Jumeirah Golf Estates, four years after his first, when the season-ending DP World Tour Championship comes around again next November.

Having made four return trips to Qualifying School since first joining the European Tour in 2004 – and after battling his way to an 83^rd place finish on last season’s Race to Dubai – Ormsby will also now have the added luxury of an exemption until 2020.