World class field in China for HSBC Champions
BY Bruce Young | Asian Tour | 2007 HSBC Champions Tournament | Preview | 07 Nov 2007
The HSBC Champions is played for the third time when a high class field lines up this week at the Sheshan Golf International Golf Club in Shanghai in China.
The line-up includes a veritable who’s who of world golf, several of whom are flowing on from last week’s Barclays Singapore Open with Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington and Angel Cabrera the most prominent of them.
The Sheshan International Golf Club was designed by Neil Haworth who, as part of the golf course design team of Nelson Haworth Design, has been responsible for many of the new wave of golf course designs in China in the last 15 years.
The tournament brings together an interesting mix of players from around the world, many of them as a result of having won tournaments on sanctioned tours in 2007 and others who have finished inside various money list milestones. With ten of the current world top twenty, the tournament boasts a tremendous line-up and brings to China many players who have never played competitively in that country previously.
One who fits very much into that category is Phil Mickelson, who is embracing a much more expansive schedule in 2007 and one that may become part of Mickelson’s routine in future years.
“The reason I haven’t played more tournaments internationally in the past is because of the length of the PGA Tour schedule and then my kids were not able to travel,” said Mickelson this week. “They were too young then and would not have appreciated the many things that different countries have to offer.”
Mickelson also played last week in Singapore and it is a refreshing change to see such a significant player in the game now prepared to travel more.
The defending champion is Korean, Y.E. Yang, who opened up a lot of doors for himself when he defeated the world number one Tiger Wood by two shots last year. Yang had played with success in Japan prior to his win but the victory provided him access to Europe. It has however not been a good year in 2007 for Yang and it might be an even bigger surprise if he was to successfully defend.
Despite missing the cut last week, Ernie Els probably gets the nod as the player to beat this week as he looks to add another HSBC title to his World Match Play win just three weeks ago. With such a strong field however, Els will need to be at his best to hold players of this class at bay.
Cabrera’s win last week in Singapore suggests he could well back up with another this week but one who might do well at slightly longer odds is Paul Casey who has made a habit of playing well in China. Casey has done well in this event previously and although he has not been at his best of late it might be that a return to China could work for him.
Harrington has done well enough in the two times he has been to this event and has been in good solid form of late. He has proven himself capable of winning in Asia and this week could well be another example of it.
A case could be made for any one of twenty players to win the event and amongst the Australians are one or two who could feature prominently.
The two lefthanders Richard Green and Nick O’Hern are in the field and, although Green’s schedule has been limited of late, he has experienced one of his best seasons in 2007. He is currently Australia’s 4th highest ranked player highlighting a season which has seen him win in Europe and record his best ever finish in a major when 4th at the Open Championship.
O’Hern on the other hand has not done so well in the latter half of the year but has played well in this event previously.
Other Australasians include Nathan Green, John Senden, Rod Pampling, Brett Rumford and the leading Australian in Asia this season, Scott Hend.
The tournament has prizemoney of US$5 million and for many in this field the opportunity to leapfrog their way to Europe should they win.
