Hsu Chi-san

Hsu Chi-san (born 17 January 1938)[1] is a Taiwanese professional golfer. During his career he won many tournaments in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippine, Taiwan and Singapore national opens on the Asia Golf Circuit.

Hsu Chi-san
Personal information
Born (1938-01-17) 17 January 1938
Nationality Taiwan
Career
StatusProfessional
Former tour(s)Asia Golf Circuit
Professional wins14
Number of wins by tour
Asian Tour3 (Asia Golf Circuit)
Other11
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenDNP
The Open ChampionshipT21: 1976

Professional career

Hsu's first notable performances were at his national open, the Taiwan Open. He won the event in 1965.[1] He attempted to defend his championship the following year and was successful early, holding a share of the lead after the first round.[2] However, he ultimately lost the title to countryman Lu Liang-Huan.

In the mid-1960s, Hsu also started playing on the Asia Golf Circuit. He shot an opening round 68 (−4) at the 1967 Thailand Open to take a two shot.[3][4] He ultimately finished in a tie for fourth place, five behind the champion Tomoo Ishii and one shot behind runner-up finishers Kuo Chie-Hsiung and Tony Jacklin.[5] His first win on the Asian circuit came the following year at the 1968 Philippine Open, where he opened 72−69−68 to hold a four shot lead after three rounds. He extended that lead in the final round, birdieing 4 of the first 8 holes on Sunday to build a 10-shot lead. He shot a final round 69 (−3) to finish eight shots ahead of Japan's Shigeru Uchida.[6] The following April, he came close to winning the Taiwan Open again. Having tied competitor Hideyo Sugimoto at the end of regulation play, Hsu made a bogey at the first playoff hole to finish second.[7]

These performances would help Hsu qualify for Taiwan's 1969 World Cup team. Taiwan's team was among the favorites to win the cup.[8] Hsu and teammate Hsieh Yung-yo led the way after the first 36 holes with a 277 total,[9] and eventually finished in a tie for fourth.

Hsu went several years without winning a tournament or receiving substantial media coverage. He started to have some success again, however, in the mid-1970s. He held the lead after the first round of the 1973 Thailand Open with Walter Godfrey and Japan's Akio Toyoda.[10] The following year he finished the 1974 Indonesia Open tied in regulation with Australian Graham Marsh and Filipino Ben Arda. Arda won the event on the first playoff hole.[11] In 1975, he held the lead with John Sullivan after the first round of the Malaysian Dunlop Masters.[12] In the next round, he broke the record at the Subang National, shooting a 69 (−3) to take the solo lead.[13] He went on to win the event by three.[14] One year later, he played excellently at the 1976 Taiwan Open, taking the second round lead.[15] He went on to win. He took the lead in the Asia Golf Circuit's Order of Merit standing with the win.[16] Later in the year he would play in his first major championship, the 1976 Open Championship. Hsu shot an 81 (+9) in the first round to put himself outside of the cut line. However, he shot a second round 69 to make the cut by two shots. He finished 71−72 over the final two days.[17] He finished in a tie for 21st.[18] His performance over the final three days was better than all players except Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd, and Vicente Fernández.[17]

The 1977 year would also be successful. That March he played excellently at the Singapore Open. Staving off challengers Ben Arda, Mya Aye, and Tomoni Suzuki, the veteran Hsu would play "steady" golf amidst the "tense" environment and win by one shot.[19] Later in the year, he again played in the British Open with some success. At the 1977 Open Championship he opened with an even-par 70 to place in the top ten.[20] In the second round he again shot 70. He remained in the top-10 and was only three shots back of Roger Maltbie's lead.[21] He then shot a third round 77 to fall out of contention. However, he would make the third round cut easily, by five shots.[22] In the final round he would shoot a very disappointing 81 and finish at 298 (+18), in a tie for 58th.[23]

In late 1970s he would again have some success in Asia. In 1978 he played excellently at the Asia Golf Circuit's unofficial opener, the Philippine Masters, shooting two-under in "high winds" to win by one.[24] The following year, he would seriously compete at the Hong Kong Open. He was in second place after the first round, one behind Australian Graham Marsh.[25] He continued to play well and was tied for the third round lead with Lu Hsi-chuen. However, both he and Lu shot 74 (+4) in the 4th round and were usurped by Greg Norman. Hsu finished joint runner-up with Lu and fellow Taiwanese Chen Tze-ming, three back of Norman.[26]

In the early 1980s he played well at two events on the Singapore circuit. In 1980 he won the Singapore PGA Championship.[1] The following year he held the midway lead at the 1981 Rolex Masters.[27] He went on to win the event.[28] A month later, he recorded one of his final high finishes on the Asia Golf Circuit, finishing runner-up to Payne Stewart at the Indonesia Open.[29]

Very late in his regular career, he had some highlights. He finished joint runner-up at the 1986 PGA of Singapore championship, six behind Mario Siodina.[30] He also took the first round lead at that year's Singapore PGA Championship.[31] In 1988, he turned 50 and was eligible for the senior circuit. He won three senior events in Japan in the late 1980s and finished runner-up in four tournaments in 1993.[1] More recently he has played on the Asian Senior Masters and Taiwan PGA Tour.[1]

Professional wins

Asia Golf Circuit wins (3)

Other wins

Senior wins
  • 1988 Japan Ho-Oh Cup Senior Tournament[1]
  • 1989 Japan Ryobi Cup Senior Open,[1] Japan Ho-Oh Cup Senior Open[1]

Results in major championships
Tournament 1976 1977
The Open Championship T21 T58

Note: The Open Championship was the only major Hsu played.
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Sources: [18]

Team appearances
gollark: <@!309787486278909952> I have spare time and a computer, just outsource all your rust to me!
gollark: Interfaces and stuff are *always* pointers.
gollark: There are other reasons you might want to return pointers - mostly stupid ones admittedly - and it's bad to conflate those with optionals.
gollark: If *everything* can be optional, you enter a minefield of constant `if whatever != nil` checks.
gollark: Also, you can't pattern-match nicely on nullable stuff.

References
  1. "Hsu Chi-san – player information". Asian Senior Masters. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  2. "Thomson Behind". The Canberra Times. 1 April 1966. p. 26. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  3. "Hsu leads Thailand Open golf". The Canberra Times. 17 March 1967. p. 18. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  4. "Formosan Chi San in the lead". The Strait Times. Singapore. 17 March 1967. p. 18. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via National Library Board.
  5. "Ishii wins by four strokes". The Straits Times. 20 March 1967. p. 21. Retrieved 24 June 2020 – via National Library Board.
  6. "Hsu wins by 8 strokes". The Straits Times. Singapore. 26 February 1968. p. 4. Retrieved 13 March 2020 – via National Library Board.
  7. "'Sudden death' golf to Japanese". The Canberra Times. 7 April 1969. p. 8. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  8. "World, Cup bid by Asian golfers". The Canberra Times. 25 September 1969. p. 28. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  9. "Taiwan golfers lead in cup". The Canberra Times. 4 October 1969. p. 32. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  10. "Godfrey, Toyoda and Hsu share lead". The Strait Times. Singapore. 30 March 1973. p. 30. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via National Library Board.
  11. "Golf". The Canberra Times. 19 March 1974. p. 18. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  12. "Hsu and Sullivan share Dunlop Masters lead". The Strait Times. Singapore. 28 March 1975. p. 28. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via National Library Board.
  13. "Hsu pulls away to clear lead with record 69". The Strait Times. Singapore. 29 March 1975. p. 21. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via National Library Board.
  14. "Hsu cards a 79 but it's still good for title". The Straits Times. 31 March 1975. p. 23.
  15. "11 behind". New Nation. 28 February 1976. p. 15. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via National Library Board.
  16. "Hsu takes lead in Asia Circuit". The Straits Times. Singapore. 2 March 1976. p. 25. Retrieved 3 March 2020 – via National Library Board.
  17. "Miller turns it into a runaway". Eugene Register-Guardian. Associated Press. 11 July 1976. p. 1B. Retrieved 24 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  18. "Hsu Chi San". Golf Major Championships. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  19. "Hsu wins with his cool golf..." The Straits Times. 28 March 1977. p. 27.
  20. "Longshot U.K. open leader blasts "star" system". The Gazette. -Montreal, Canada. 7 July 1977. p. 23. Retrieved 24 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  21. Jacobs, Raymond (8 July 1977). "An All-American drive for Open". The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 24 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  22. Jacobs, Raymond (9 July 1977). "Nicklaus, Watson in a two-man tussle". Glasgow Herald. p. 16.
  23. "Previous Opens - 106th Open Turnberry 1977 - The Open". www.theopen.com. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  24. "Philippines golf". The Canberra Times. 13 February 1978. p. 13. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  25. "Marsh and Hsu share Hongkong lead". The Strait Times. Singapore. 23 February 1979. p. 28. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via National Library Board.
  26. "Norman ends the Taiwanese run". The Straits Times. Singapore. 26 February 1979. p. 26. Retrieved 4 March 2020 – via National Library Board.
  27. "Scores after second round". The Strait Times. Singapore. 14 March 1981. p. 38. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via National Library Board.
  28. "The Rolex world of Golf and The Rolex Masters '89". Business Times. Singapore. 6 March 1989. pp. 12, 13 – via National Library Board.
  29. "Stewart wins Indonesian Open in play-off". The Canberra Times. 7 April 1981. p. 21. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  30. "Cool Filipino Wins Golf Tourney". The Strait Times. Singapore. 12 October 1986. p. 2. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via National Library Board.
  31. "Chi San takes one-stroke lead in S'pore PGA event". Business Times. 9 October 1986. p. 9. Retrieved 15 May 2020 – via National Library Board.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.