Find out the key facts as the battle for Race to Dubai positions enter the final stages, with the World Golf Championships–HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
REWIND
Russell Knox claimed his first European Tour title as Danny Willett gave his Race to Dubai hopes a boost on a dramatic final day of the 2015 WGC–HSBC Champions.
A final round of 68 at Sheshan International Golf Club took Inverness-native Knox to 20 under par, and sealed a two-shot victory over Kevin Kisner.
Willett, who eventually finished tied third, surged up the leaderboard early in the day, posting ten birdies in an unblemished 62 which proved to be the round of the week and moved him closer to eventual Race to Dubai winner Rory McIlroy.
Branden Grace and Ross Fisher both held a share of the lead alongside Knox and Kisner at the midway point of the final day, but Knox held his nerve on the back nine with birdies on the tenth and 11th before a sixth birdie of the day on the 16th ensured his position as the first Scotsman to win a WGC event.
THE FIELD
The 2016 WGC–HSBC Champions will present its strongest field to date, with 40 of the top 50 players in the world confirmed for this week’s tournament.
Knox will defend his title against a field that boasts eight of the world’s top ten, all of the year’s Major winners and 19 stars from the 2016 edition of The Ryder Cup.
The current top three in the Race to Dubai are all scheduled to compete. Willett, the 2016 Masters Tournament winner, is the current front-runner followed by Open Champion Henrik Stenson and last year’s Race to Dubai winner, McIlroy. In-form Swede Alex Noren will be looking to continue his climb up the Rankings after victory at the British Masters supported by Sky Sports saw him jump from ninth to fourth position.
Other standouts include Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and South African Major Champions Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
THE COURSE
Sheshan International Golf Club has hosted every edition of the 2016 WGC–HSBC Champions since the inaugural tournament in 2005, apart from 2012 when the event went to the Olazábal Course at Mission Hills in China.
The 7,261 yards, par 72 course was designed by internationally renowned golf course architects Nelson & Haworth. With well-placed bunkers, water features and undulating greens, Sheshan is a picturesque and challenging course.
Beautiful tree-lined fairways are surrounded by gentle rolling hills, 1,000 year old Gingko trees, calm waterways, and a spectacular natural quarry. The course is set in the shadow of the Basilica of our Lady of Sheshan Cathedral, and surrounded by Tuscan inspired villas.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Defending champion Knox was not sure if he would even be able to play in the 2015 edition. Originally seventh reserve, he only found out he was in the field while playing in the CIMB Classic in Malaysia the week before. His wife came to the rescue by spending the day at the Chinese consulate in Kuala Lumpur to organise a Chinese visa, and helped again by carrying her husband’s bag in a practice round as caddie Bradley also had to acquire a visa at the 11th hour.
- If Knox retains his crown, he would join Tiger Woods as the only other player to make a successful defence of a WGC title.
- Having won the 2016 WGC–Bridgestone Invitational, Dustin Johnson is looking to join Woods and become only the second player to win back-to-back WGC events.
- Martin Kaymer created WGC history by making up five shots in the final round in 2011 – the largest final day comeback by a winner in a WGC stroke play event. The German’s record was matched by Johnson when he won the 2015 WGC–Cadillac Championship
- European players have won the WGC–HSBC Champions four times in the past six seasons: Francesco Molinari (2010), Kaymer (2011), Ian Poulter (2012) and Knox (2015).
- There will be no fewer than 43 European Tour Members participating, and ten of those will make their debuts in the tournament. They are: Jacques Blaauw, Richard Bland, Chan Shih-chang, Bradley Dredge, Nathan Holman, Andrew Johnston, Rikard Karlberg, Miguel Tabuena, Jeunghun Wang and Jordan Zunic.
