Abraham Ancer Survives Disaster to Win LIV Golf Hong Kong

Mexico's Abraham Ancer blew a five-stroke lead but still managed to win his first LIV Golf event after a play-off in Hong Kong.

He produced a final round of two-over 72, which allowed Australia's Cameron Smith (66) and England's Paul Casey (64) to join him on 13-under.

But Ancer regrouped on the first play-off hole, making a 4ft putt for a birdie and his sixth professional win.

"Man, I made that so hard on myself," said the 33-year-old.

Ancer set up only his second birdie of the day with a superb approach before sealing victory in the first LIV Golf event to be played in Hong Kong.

"The ball-striking wasn't there [today], but mentally I was really strong so I felt really good," he added. "I just kept myself in it and hit the right shot at the right time there in the play-off."

Casey holed a spectacular bunker shot for a birdie at his final hole, the 16th, to draw level with Ancer and Smith, only to find a fairway bunker off the tee in the play-off.

Chile's Joaquin Niemann, who won two of the previous three LIV events this season, finished with a seven-under 63 to finish just a shot off the lead, along with Mexico's Carlos Ortiz.

Abraham Ancer - What You Need to Know

Ancer was born on February 27, 1991, in McAllen, Texas, but spent most of his formative years in Mexico.

In December 2014, he tied for 35th place at the Web.com Tour Qualifying School final stage. He played on the Web.com Tour in 2015, where he finished runner-up at the Brazil Championship and won the Nova Scotia Open to earn himself a PGA Tour card for 2016 but failed to keep it.

He returned to the Web.com Tour in 2017 and recorded three runner-up finishes, which got him back to the PGA Tour for 2018.

A series of top-10 finishes saw him earn $1.7m and finish the season in 60th place in the FedEx Cup.

He ended 2018 by winning the Australian Open, a win that qualified him for the 2019 Open. He finished second at the Northern Trust in 2019 and ended the year with a decent finish at the Tour Championship. His good play secured him a place in the 2019 Presidents Cup International team. They lost but Ancer performed well, winning three and halving one of his five matches. His only defeat came in the singles, where he was beaten by Tiger Woods.

At the 2020 RBC Heritage, Ancer finished runner-up but led the way in driving accuracy (82.1%) and greens in regulation (90.3%).

In May 2021, he was second behind Rory McIlroy at the Wells Fargo Championship. His first win on the PGA Tour came at the 2021 WGC-FedEx St Jude, where he beat Hideki Matsuyama and Sam Burns in a playoff.

He joined LIV Golf in 2022. In February 2023, Ancer won the PIF Saudi International on the Asian Tour. His world ranking has fallen to 173.

In 146 starts on the PGA Tour, Ancer made 104 cuts with four runner-up finishes and 15 top fives.

He averages 287.72 yards from the tee, finds 72.40% of fairways and hits 65.48% of greens in regulation. He gets up and down from the sand 28% of the time and averages 31.50 putts per round. His scoring average is 71 and he averages 2.36 birdies per round.