Sixteen Australasians in HSBC Champions field
BY iseekgolf.com | Asian Tour | 2005 HSBC Champions Tournament | General | 23 Aug 2005
Sixteen Australasians are amongst fifty top class tournament winners to have qualified for the inaugural HSBC Champions tournament. The event offers the biggest prize fund ever on the Asian continent of US$5 million and takes place in Shanghai, at the Sheshan International Golf Club, from November 10-13, 2005.
Australians Steven Bowditch, Gavin Coles, Richard Green, Kim Felton, Mark Hensby, Peter Lonard, Nick O’Hern, Peter O’Malley, Craig Parry, Terry Pilkadaris, Adam Scott, Scott Strange, Adam Le Vesconte and Euan Walters, as well as US Open Champion Michael Campbell and Richard Lee of New Zealand, will join the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for the star studded event.
US Masters and Open Championship winner, Woods, confirmed earlier this year that he will play in the HSBC Champions tournament in what will be his first Official World Ranking tournament in China. The tournament boasts a first prize of $833,300 and will be co-sanctioned by The European Tour, the Asian Tour, the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Sunshine Tour and the China Golf Association.
Tiger enthused, “I am really excited to come to China in November to play in the HSBC Champions event. I like the concept of crowning the Champion of Champions from four major tours and certainly hope that I can top off my year by winning the inaugural HSBC Champions title. Playing around the world is one of the perks of professional golf and I have been eager to work a return visit to China into my schedule. There is a real buzz about golf in China as it grows in popularity so I think it will be an amazing week for both the players and the fans.”
This exciting new tournament will bring together title winners across the four sanctioning Tours, along with many of the world’s leading players through the qualification criteria, including the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking as at September 12, 2005. HSBC has also made provision to invite eight Chinese players in a commitment to involve local talent and support the development of golf in that country.
Current Qualifiers
Adam Le Vesconte
Adam Scott
Angel Cabrera
Charl Schwartzel
Choi Sang-ho
Craig Parry
David Toms
Emanuele Canonica
Ernie Els
Euan Walters
Gavin Coles
Gonzalo Fernandez Castano
Jean Francois Remesey
Joakim Backstrom
Jyoti Randhawa
Kenneth Ferrie
Kim Felton
Kiyoshi Miyazato
K.J. Choi
Mark Cayeux
Mark Hensby
Michael Campbell
Miguel Angel Jimenez
Mikael Lundberg
Nick Dougherty
Nick O’Hern
Niclas Fasth
Paul Broadhurst
Paul Casey
Peter Hanson
Peter Lonard
Peter O’Malley
Phil Mickelson
Richard Green
Richard Lee
Richard Sterne
Robert-Jan Derksen
Scott Strange
Simon Wakefield
Stephen Dodd
Steve Webster
Steven Bowditch
Terry Pilkadaris
Thaworn Wiratchant
Thomas Bjorn
Thongchai Jaidee
Tiger Woods
Tim Clark
Wang Ter-Chang
Warren Abery
With the creation of the HSBC Champions tournament in China, HSBC’s support for world golf now spans Asia, Europe and the USA. In Europe, the bank sponsors the HSBC World Match Play Championship offering the highest first prize in the history of golf at the Wentworth Club in the UK. Earlier this year, HSBC sponsored the only individual match play championship in women’s golf, in New Jersey, USA.
The prize fund of US$5 million will be the largest in the history of Asian and Chinese golf. Uniquely for a stoke play event, in an effort to reward golf’s rising stars, HSBC is also providing prize money for the entire field irrespective of whether they play the final two rounds after the 36-hole cut.
Source – PGA Tour
Photo – Anthony Powter
