The final World Golf Championship of the year returns to Sheshan International Golf Club this week, as the great and good of world golf converge in China for the WGC-HSBC Champions. Here is the lowdown…
Rewind
Hideki Matsuyama became the first Asian player to win a World Golf Championship last year when the Japanese superstar romped to a seven shot victory at Sheshan International.
Having entered the final day three shots clear, Matsuyama opened with a birdie and never looked like relinquishing his lead, adding birdies at the fifth and seventh to open the gap further before reaching the turn.
In a flawless performance for which the 25 year old is becoming renowned, he virtually sealed the deal with three successive birdies from the 13thand he parred his way home thereafter for what was merely a victory lap for a first European Tour title.
Matsuyama would emulate that feat ten months later at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational with an even more breath-taking final round - storming to a five-stroke victory at Akron to further enhance his reputation as one of the world’s best players.
The Field
World Number One Dustin Johnson arrives in China this week chasing a third World Golf Championship title of the season, having already claimed victories at the WGC-Mexico Championship and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
He is joined by the defending champion Matsuyama and World Number Five Jon Rahm, who will travel to Asia off the back of a disappointing week on home soil at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation, where he missed the cut. However, the gifted Spaniard has already finished runner-up and tied for third in two of the WGC’s thus far this season, so will take confidence into the event in China.
A total of 39 European Tour Members will be teeing it up this week, including Tommy Fleetwood, the current leader of Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.
The Course
Sheshan International Golf Club has played host to every edition of the 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.
With well-placed bunkers, water features and undulating greens, Sheshan is a challenging 7,261 yards, par 72 course designed by renowned golf course architects Nelson & Haworth.
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?
• Hideki Matsuyama will look to become the first player to retain the WGC-HSBC Champions title. Should he do so, he would follow Tiger Woods as the only player to make a successful defence of a WGC event-Woods has done so on eight occasions.
• Matsuyama is also looking to win back-to-back WGC events following his victory in August’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He would become only the third player to achieve this, following Woods and Dustin Johnson, who won the first two WGC events of this season.
• Johnson will bid to become the first player in history to win three of the four WGC titles in a single season.
• Johnson’s two victories this season took his tally to five WGC titles. Only Woods, with 18, has won more.
• In winning the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in March, Johnson completed the set of winning each of the four WGC tournaments at least once, the only player to do so since the inauguration of the WGC-HSBC Champions in 2009.
• Matsuyama’s seven-stroke victory 12 months ago was the largest winning margin in the event’s history. Only Woods has won a WGC tournament more convincingly, claiming the 2000 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by 11 strokes, the 2006 WGC-American Express Championship by eight strokes and the 2007 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by eight strokes – he also won the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by seven strokes.
• A total of 39 European Tour Members will be teeing it up this week.
• Tyrrell Hatton will bid to become the third player in European Tour history to win on three successive appearances on the European Tour, after Rory McIlroy in 2014, and Woods in 2000. Woods’ run was part of a unique achievement of victories in four consecutive starts. Only Seve Ballesteros, in 1986, has won three consecutive events.
