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On the tee: WGC-HSBC Champions
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On the tee: WGC-HSBC Champions

Xander Schauffele will start his WGC-HSBC Champions title defence in the final group on the back nine as the American forms a stellar threeball at Sheshan International Golf Club.

Shenshan International Golf Club

The Affiliate Member secured his first European Tour title in Shanghai after defeating compatriot Tony Finau in a dramatic play-off.

The World Number Nine will be the lowest ranked player in his group for the first two rounds of the final World Golf Championship event of the season, with four time Major Champion and World Number Two Rory McIlroy and 2013 U.S. Open winner Justin Rose - ranked World Number Eight - playing alongside him at 10.50am.

They are the only three players in the top ten of the World Rankings but there are plenty of former Major Champions on show in China.

Xander Schauffele

Former Masters Tournament winners, Bubba Watson and Danny Willett, will begin their first round at 10.10am at the tenth alongside Matt Wallace.

Francesco Molinari, 2018 Open Championship winner, and Louis Oosthuizen - who won the event eight years earlier - are grouped with Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter at 10.00am on the back nine, while Paul Casey starts 20 minutes earlier with Japan's Hideki Matsuyama and American Jordan Spieth.

Bernd Wiesberger, who tops the Race to Dubai Rankings Presented by Rolex, begins his first round with reigning Open Championship winner Shane Lowry and Finau in the penultimate group at 10.40am, while former Masters Tournament champions Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed are together with South Korea's Sungjae Im at 9.30am.

Home favourite Wu Ashun plays with Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello and American Chez Reavie at 9.20am, beginning at the tenth, while Li Haotong gets under way at 10.20am at the same hole alongside Matthew Fitzpatrick and five-time Major Champion Phil Mickelson.

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