BlogHSBC Champions Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

The PGA Tour has another week in Asia and the last WGC event of 2013 (or should we say first one on the PGA Tour 2014 schedule).  What’s interesting about this one is the fact that so many marquee names are here, a sign that shows that players will travel anyplace to compete in a good event with great players for a boat load of money.

Now before we go on, anybody else find it weird that Tiger Woods isn’t there?  First of all he played in four previous HSBC in 2005 (2nd), 2006, (2nd), 2009 (T6th) and 2010 (T6th) and had a good record in the event.  Second he flew all the way to China to play in a one day exhibition with Rory McIlroy.  You mean if he flew that far for a one day payoff, why wouldn’t he stick around for the week and play in this event on a course he has played well on and the same course has been featured in all of his computer games.  Another big mystery, Tiger is flying to Turkey next week to play in that European Tour event.  Puzzling, not really.  Again it has to do with money and he use to command millions of dollars to play in the HSBC event.  But now that this event is an “official” event on the PGA Tour, he isn’t allowed to take appearance fees so it’s off his schedule, for the time being at least.

Now the dirty secret is that there is appearance fee’s on the PGA Tour despite what tour officials say.  But they are small potatoes like a player will get between $50,000 to $100,000 for showing up at a dinner or some tournament function, which is considered doing a sponsor a “favor”.  There is probably a magical figure that a player can’t go over that would bump it into that “appearance fee” category.  So let’s say that the tournament sponsor would pay Tiger a million to two million dollars to just show up at a dinner, that doesn’t pass the tour’s sniff test.  So I guess since Tiger use to get millions for showing up in past years, he doesn’t want to start breaking off and playing someplace for free when he use to get paid for it.  Oh well.

Now let’s look at the European Tour, in which this is the second event on their four tournament final series.  Many thought that this four event series would be like the FedEx Cup playoffs but it really isn’t.  It’s just a way to force marquee players to participate in two of the three tournaments before the DP World Tour Championship.  In previous years players didn’t have to do anything but show up to Dubai for a final season payday.  But that is changed, in order to play in Dubai, they have to play two of the three events.

The first two events the BMW Masters and this week’s WGC-HSBC is not open to the rack and file of players on the European Tour, if you were out of the top-60 of the race to Dubai money list, you don’t have a chance to play in Dubai.  At least in the FedEx Cup playoffs, those high up in the FedEx Cup point list had a chance to move on for playing well, that isn’t really offered here.

Another tricky thing, for the PGA Tour this week counts toward the 2014 season, but for the rest of the tours it’s all part of the 2013 season so doing the math will be a bit weird.

Other than that, it’s great that the PGA Tour is more involved this week with it being an “official” event.  One thing is nice for those on the European Tour, two straight weeks in Shanghai, this week’s event at Sheshan is just on the other side of town from were the BMW Masters was played, so all the players will be adjusted to the time zones and may have a bit of an advantage.

Course information: 

The Sheshan Golf Club is a par-72 golf course that was designed by Robin Nelson and Neil Haworth and opened in 2004. Sheshan International Golf Club features beautiful tree-lined fairways and gentle rolling hills around 1000 year old Gingko trees, calm waterways, and a spectacular natural quarry. Set in the shadow of the Basilica of our Lady of Sheshan Cathedral and surrounded by beautiful Italian Tuscan inspired villas, Sheshan provides a truly unique experience.  Although located in the city of Shanghai, the serene surroundings suggest a genuine feeling of seclusion and nature.

Featuring well-placed bunkers throughout the golf course along with, deep collection areas, beautiful water features, and undulating greens.  The natural forestation was integrated into the course design. 10,000 trees and natural foliage has been preserved. Two 1000 year old ginko trees grace the 4th hole. 16 million cubic meters of dirt was moved to create elevation, bunkers and valleys. Sheshan provides a beautiful and challenging golf course for all, including the best Tour Professionals in the world and is considered one of the best courses in China.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the WGC-HSBC Champions:

Key stat for the winner:

Event comes back to Sheshan after being played last year at Mission Hills.  In the previous years held at Sheshan, there is no one stat that you can put your fingers on and say, geez this course favors such and such a player.  So we have to look at those that have played well before at Sheshan, one thing pops up.  All the recent champions had one thing in there favor, they had a very good year going into this event.  Look at Martin Kaymer in 2011, he had been playing well for two years, winning the PGA Championship.  In 2010 Francesco Molinari was putting the finishes touch on a great year, same with winners Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia.  So look for a player that has had a great 2013 to win this week.

Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:

• With tight fairways and lot’s of roll in them, accuracy is important but not a big key.  The more important factor in looking at past years is a player that can dominate the par 4s. It’s also interesting to note that last four champions at Sheshan have been 36 under on the par 4s, in 2011 Martin Kaymer was 10 under, Francisco Molinari was 12 under in 2010, Phil Mickelson was 10 under in 2009 and Sergio Garcia was 4 under in 2008.
• Interesting to see that Lee Westwood has the best scoring average at Sheshan between 2008 and 2011.  He was 68.75 followed by Rory McIlroy with 68.92 followed by Francesco Molinari with 69.08 followed by Sergio Garcia at 69.38.  Also we can’t forget that Paul Casey is at 69.67, Martin Kaymer is at 69.69 and Phil Mickelson is at 69.92.
• Last week in Malaysia the weather was terrible with hot muggy conditions and thunderstorms every afternoon.  Things will be totally different this week as temperatures will be in the 60s each day and no rain.  For more on the weather check out Myweather2.Com
• Again like we say, look for the player with the hot hand.  Those that played well at both the BMW Masters and the CIMB Classic will play well this week.

Below in our picks, be aware that since there were two HSBC played in 2009, only one shows up.  Sorry for the time being we can’t do two events in one year, we will have it fixed for next year.