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PGA European - WGC - HSBC Champions Preview
From The Sports Network
| DATES: Thursday, November 4th through Sunday, November 7th |
| SITE: Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, China |
| COURSE ARCHITECT: Robin Nelson & Neil Haworth (2004) |
| Hole-By-Hole: | 1 - Par 4 459 Yds | 10 - Par 4 401 Yds | |
| 2 - Par 5 550 Yds | 11 - Par 4 435 Yds | |
| 3 - Par 4 362 Yds | 12 - Par 3 217 Yds | |
| 4 - Par 3 200 Yds | 13 - Par 4 430 Yds | |
| 5 - Par 4 463 Yds | 14 - Par 5 563 Yds | |
| 6 - Par 3 200 Yds | 15 - Par 4 487 Yds | |
| 7 - Par 4 346 Yds | 16 - Par 4 288 Yds | |
| 8 - Par 5 603 Yds | 17 - Par 3 191 Yds | |
| 9 - Par 4 466 Yds | 18 - Par 5 538 Yds | |
| ------------- | ------------- | |
| 36 3,649 Yds | 36 3,550 Yds | |
| Annual: | 6th |
| Television: | Golf Channel - Thursday/Friday -- 12-4 a.m. (et), |
| | - Thursday/Friday -- 8 a.m.-12 p.m. (et) - replay, |
| | - Friday/Saturday -- 11 p.m.-4 a.m. (et), |
| | - Friday/Saturday -- 7 a.m.-12 p.m. (et) - replay |
| Defending Champion: | Phil Mickelson |
| Runner-Up: | Ernie Els |
| Tournament Record: | 268 (David Howell, 2005) |
| 54-Hole Record: | 200 (David Howell, 2005) |
| 36-Hole Record: | 132 (David Howell, Nick Dougherty, 2005) |
| Course Record: | 63 (Daisuke Maruyama, Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, 2009) |
| Total Purse: | $7,000,000 |
| Payouts: | 1st Place - $1,200,000; 2nd Place - $675,000; 3rd Place - $430,000 |
| 2009 Finish |
| Player | Score | Player | Score |
| Phil Mickelson | 271 | Martin Kaymer | 276 |
| Ernie Els | 272 | Tiger Woods | 276 |
| Ryan Moore | 273 | Alvaro Quiros | 277 |
| Rory McIlroy | 274 | Lee Westwood | 277 |
| Nick Watney | 275 | Seven players at | 278 |
| Past WGC - HSBC Champions Winners |
| Year | Winner (Score) -- Runners-Up |
| 2009 | Phil Mickelson (271) -- Ernie Els |
| 2008 | *Sergio Garcia (274) -- Oliver Wilson |
| 2007 | *Phil Mickelson (278) -- Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher |
| 2006 | Yong-Eun Yang (274) -- Tiger Woods |
| 2005 | David Howell (268) -- Tiger Woods |
| Top Contenders in the Field |
| Player | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | | | | | |
| Phil Mickelson | --- | --- | Won | T-8 | Won | | | | | |
| Ernie Els | --- | --- | T-21 | --- | 2nd | | | | | |
| Rory McIlroy | --- | --- | --- | --- | 4th | | | | | |
| Nick Watney | --- | --- | --- | --- | 5th | | | | | |
| Martin Kaymer | --- | --- | --- | T-20 | T-6 | | | | | |
| Tiger Woods | 2nd | 2nd | --- | --- | T-6 | | | | | |
| Alvaro Quiros | --- | --- | mc | 10th | T-8 | | | | | |
| Lee Westwood | T-12 | --- | T-2 | --- | T-8 | | | | | |
| Anthony Kim | --- | --- | --- | dq | T-10 | | | | | |
| Retief Goosen | --- | T-3 | T-18 | --- | T-10 | | | | | |
| Francesco Molinari | --- | T-9 | --- | --- | T-10 | | | | | |
| Ryo Ishikawa | --- | --- | --- | --- | T-17 | | | | | |
| Robert Allenby | --- | --- | --- | --- | T-23 | | | | | |
| Padraig Harrington | T-15 | T-6 | T-5 | T-11 | T-25 | | | | | |
| Camilo Villegas | --- | T-23 | --- | T-20 | T-25 | | | | | |
| Ross Fisher | --- | --- | T-2 | T-43 | T-28 | | | | | |
| Peter Hanson | T-19 | --- | T-33 | T-3 | T-31 | | | | | |
| Y.E. Yang | --- | Won | dq | --- | T-33 | | | | | |
| Henrik Stenson | T-32 | T-18 | T-9 | 5th | T-40 | | | | | |
| Ian Poulter | T-19 | T-31 | T-38 | T-14 | T-45 | | | | | |
| Paul Casey | 7th | T-6 | T-9 | T-11 | wd | | | | | |
| Louis Oosthuizen | --- | T-62 | 11th | T-16 | --- | | | | | |
| Graeme McDowell | 39th | --- | --- | T-16 | --- | | | | | |
| Luke Donald | --- | T-14 | --- | --- | --- | | | | | |
| Miguel A. Jimenez | T-54 | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | |
| Tim Clark | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | |
| Ben Crane | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | |
| Rickie Fowler | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | |
| Hunter Mahan | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | |
| Edoardo Molinari | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | |
| Sports Network Selections |
| Pick to Win - Luke Donald |
| Darkhorse - Robert Allenby |
| |
| Last Week's Pick to Win - PGA Tour (K.J. Choi) - Finished tied for 18th |
| Last Week's Darkhorse - PGA Tour (Martin Laird) - Finished tied for 3rd |
| |
| Last Week's Pick to Win - European (Martin Kaymer) - Finished tied for 21st |
| Last Week's Darkhorse - European (Joost Luiten) - Finished tied for 5th |
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| NOTES: |
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The PGA Tour and European Tour travel to Asia this week for the World Golf
Championships - HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai,
China. Many of the best players in the world are on hand this week, led by new
world No. 1 Lee Westwood, who overtook Tiger Woods this week as the top player
in the world. Woods had been No. 1 for 281 consecutive weeks, dating back to
June of 2005. The top four players in the world - Westwood, Woods, Martin
Kaymer and defending champion Phil Mickelson - are in the field this week.
Each player has a chance to be No. 1 in the world at the end of the
tournament.
This is the sixth staging of this tournament, but second as part of the PGA
Tour. It is also the second year that this event is part of the World Golf
Championships. The other WGC events are the Accenture Match Play Championship,
CA Championship and Bridgestone Invitational.
Last year, Phil Mickelson fired four rounds in the 60s to hold off Ernie Els
and win this event. Mickelson, who also won this title in 2007, completed the
event at 17-under-par 271. It was Mickelson's second WGC victory of 2009, as
he also captured the CA Championship. Els took the lead with a birdie on the
17th in the final round, but found water with his second at the last. That led
to a closing bogey, which left Els at 16-under-par 272 after a course-record-
tying nine-under 63.
In 2008, Sergio Garcia birdied the second playoff hole to defeat Oliver
Wilson. Garcia fired a final-round 68 to come from two shots back to tie
Wilson at 14-under-par 274. Both players parred the first playoff hole before
Garcia won his eighth European Tour title with a birdie on the second extra
hole.
Mickelson did something he hadn't done in 14 years back in 2007: he won on
foreign soil. It was harder than it figured to be. Playing for the first time
in China, Mickelson survived an epic collapse during the final round to
eventually win a three-way playoff against Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood.
Mickelson let a five-shot lead slip away in a span of six holes, then fell two
strokes behind Fisher with three to play. He still trailed Fisher by one
heading to the 18th hole, where he made a bogey while Fisher stumbled to a
disastrous double-bogey to force the playoff. Leading by two shots overnight,
Mickelson shot a four-over 76 in the final round at Sheshan International Golf
Club. Unable to capitalize fully on that, Fisher had a two-over 74. Lee
Westwood backed into the playoff after closing with a spectacular five-under
67 that included six birdies over his last nine holes. He was in the clubhouse
three groups before Mickelson and Fisher botched the 18th. The trio ended
regulation knotted at 10-under 278, then played the par-five 18th hole twice
in the playoff. It was Mickelson's first victory outside of the United States
since he won the 1993 Perrier Open, a European Challenge Tour event.
In 2006, Y.E. Yang trumped some of the biggest names in golf, including Woods
and former U.S. Open champions Retief Goosen and Michael Campbell to win. Yang
carded a three-under 69 in the final round to win at 14-under-par 274, two
shots better than Woods, who posted a five-under 67 and finished second here
for the second year in a row. Yang became the third player from Korea to win
on the European Tour, joining K.J. Choi and Charlie Wi. Choi won the 2003
German Masters and Wi captured the 2006 Maybank Malaysian Open.
David Howell shot four rounds in the 60s, closing with a four-under 68 in the
final round of '05, to cruise to a three-stroke win over Woods at the
inaugural tournament. Howell finished the event at 20-under-par 268.
Players qualifying for this lucrative event are: winners of the 2010 Masters,
THE PLAYERS Championship, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship;
winners of the 2010 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, WGC-CA Championship
and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational; tournament winners of worldwide events (PGA
Tour, European Tour, Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Tour, Australasian
Tour) in 2010 with an Official World Golf Ranking Strength of Field Rating of
40 points or more; the top-five players not otherwise exempt from the final
2010 PGA Tour FedExCup Points List and the 2010 European Tour Race to Dubai as
of October 25; four Chinese players; players not otherwise exempt from the Top
25 of the Official World Golf Ranking as of September 27; if necessary to fill
the field to 78 players, additional tournament winners from selected events
and players from the Official World Golf Ranking outside the Top 25 as of
September 27.
Woods has dominated the World Golf Championships. In his 32 career starts,
Woods has 16 wins and 29 top-10 finishes. In fact, Woods has earned
$21,980,925 in his 32 WGC appearances.
Sheshan International is hosting the HSBE Champions event for the sixth
consecutive season and second straight as part of the World Golf Championship
series. Designed by the team of Robin Nelson and Neil Haworth, Sheshan
International was named Best Championship Course in China and features over
10,000 trees.
The PGA Tour heads to Nevada on November 9 for the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge,
where the LPGA Tour will defend its title. The final full-field event will be
next week (Nov. 11-14) at the Children's Miracle Network Classic in Florida,
where Stephen Ames won last year. The European Tour travels to Singapore next
week for the Barclays Singapore Open, where Ian Poulter captured the 2009
title.
11/02 15:10:30 ET
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As of November 2, 2010, at 03:10 PM ET
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