“It feels like a dream – don’t wake me up,” Kho said as he stepped off the 18th green.
“It was hard for me to keep it [under control] walking up the 18th because I knew what was in front of me. Just being at home in front of everyone, having my parents here, it just means the world to me.”
Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung paid tribute to Kho and said his victory highlighted how Hong Kong’s golf bosses had “nurtured young athletes”.
“The Hong Kong Golf Association and the Hong Kong Golf Club successfully organised this international competition, just in time to undertake the outstanding achievements of Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Central and the Museum Summit, making Hong Kong continue to be an events capital,” Yeung said.
“We believe this intense sporting spirit will continue into this weekend’s Hong Kong Sevens.”
Kho had begun the day with a four-shot lead over Miguel Tabuena, but that dropped to just two with bogeys at three and six.
With Tabuena solid but struggling, making only pars when he needed birdies, and the rest of the field getting closer, Kho’s wobbles continued and he needed to sink several putts from distance just to keep in front.
The momentum changed on nine. Kho hooked his approach towards the trees and was fortunate to see it bounce back in the direction of the fairway rather than deeper into trouble.
Facing a fight to save par, his wedge from 60 yards out bounced at the front of the green, took two smaller hops and nestled into the hole for a birdie. That moved the Hongkonger to 12 under and gave him a bit more breathing space.
Up ahead, Australian Smyth was moving up the leader board and four birdies in five holes lifted him to 10 under and alone for a while in second.
Kho got back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13, reducing the damage of dropping a shot at 11, to get to 13 under, and while Smyth’s charge faltered over the closing holes and ended at 18 when he went left off the tee, Tabuena’s putter became even colder.
Having lipped out when looking at birdie on the long 13th, the Filipino then left his approach well short on 15, three-putting for bogey. Kho, though, showed his first sign of nerves and missed a simple putt for par himself and dropped back to 12 under.
Hendry, meanwhile, rattled in birdies at 16 and 17 to move to within two of the lead, but that was as close as he got. Any suggestion of jitters was gone by the time the group reached the last tee, and Kho’s drive left him little more than 80 yards to the green.
“It definitely wasn’t fearless, and I was definitely nervous, which I think was perfectly natural,” Kho said. “But I said to myself ‘I’ll be a better player by the end of it if I stick to my game plan and not shy away from it’.
“I said to my coach last night, whether I had a two-stroke lead or was back by one on the last hole, I would take driver, and I feel that’s the reason I succeeded this week.”
The crowd, which had grown throughout his round, numbered in the thousands at that point, and the cheer for Kho as he approached the green was the loudest of the week.
With a comfortable cushion, Kho putted out for par and was then immediately surrounded by family and friends.
“I just want to thank everyone who came out today to support,” he said. “I really felt a lot of momentum on my side, and they were part of it too.”
Hendry and Smyth will also play in the Open at Royal Liverpool later this year, but it was a miserable day all around for Tabuena.
His two-over 72 dropped him to eight-under overall and in a tie for fourth with Bio Kim, who shot five-under. Kim took the final Open spot courtesy of his better world ranking.
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