HSBC Women's Champions Final Round Duel: Arimura vs. Webb

The final round of the HSBC Women’s Champions looks like one of those great things in golf: a good old-fashioned duel. If stroke play can ever look like match play then this is it. Separated by just one stroke, and a further five shots clear of the rest of the field going into the final round, Chie Arimura and Karrie Webb have been conducting their own private battle. Tim Maitland reports.

The duelists could not be more different: Chie represents the future, Karrie is already a legend.

  credit: Karrie Webb winning Kraft Nabisco

Webb at 36 has seen it all, done it all and got the t-shirt! She qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame 11 years ago and when she became eligible to be inducted in 2005 she was the youngest inductee ever at that time.

Arimura in sharp contrast has never won outside Japan, but those who have watched her burst onto the scene on the JLPGA have been expecting her to break through internationally. At just 23 years of age she already has seven wins under her belt, including five during a spectacular 2009 season: she knows how to win.

 

credit: Golf Digest

“It’s still not easy! With each experience you learn the nervousness and the pressure you have to go through. I say I’m still not used to it!” Arimura says.

The main reason that an international win is missing from her young CV may be that she hasn’t played that often outside her homeland. During her great 2009 season she showed up at the Evian Ladies Masters and the Women’s British Open and last year she played the HSBC Women’s Champions, the Evian and in all four LPGA majors, finishing 9^th at the Kraft Nabisco, 32nd in Singapore.

Those with insider knowledge of the Japanese game, such as 2010 HSBC Women’s Caddy of the Year Dean Herden, have been expecting her to breakthrough internationally.

“I’m not surprised at all. She had a wonderful year in 2009 and she really learned how to win that year. She’s a real hard worker and she’s probably the toughest Japanese player since I’ve been caddying on the JLPGA Tour! All that hard work pays off somewhere down the line,” says Herden.

“She hits her iron shots so straight and you need to do that around this course. She’s a complete player. She hits it so straight off the tee and she hits her irons so straight and she’s deadly with the putter. All round she’s got a great game; there’s not one part that is weak. She chips well, she does everything right. She’s cute and she’s known for that in Japan; the smile, the good looks and she’s not very tall. She’s quite famous too, her and Sakura Yokomine,” he adds, before insisting that, if Chie wins on Sunday it won’t be long before her name is just as accepted as those of Ochoa, Shin (who he caddied to victory in 2009) and Ai Miyazato.

“It’s the great thing about this event, it’s a great stepping stone for every player; once they win this it gives them the confidence to go on to even bigger and better things. I think Chie can probably win a US Open she hits it so straight and they set up those courses with long rough and tight and she’ll kill it,” Herden insists.

Arimura’s caddie this week, Lionel Matichuk, who works permanently on the Japan Tour, has also known Chie was bound to break out internationally sooner or later.

“She’s good. She’s good enough to do it. She’s top quality; she just hasn’t played many international events,” said Matichuk.

“I’ve known her for three years and she’s always been pretty good. This week she’s just been in control, hitting a lot of solid shots into the wind, so the wind hasn’t affected them much and if she’s made a mistake somewhere she’s recovered. She’s got a good short game, pretty much everything.”

As if playing almost head-to-head with a legend like Webb – a winner of 7 majors and 36 LPGA events – Arimura will also have the hottest player on the planet in her 10-10 a.m. group. The world number one Yani Tseng, still in with a chance of winning for the fourth week in a row and her fifth consecutive event, leads the best of the rest six shots behind the young Japanese star.

“To play amongst these great players, even now, feels very much like a dream, but I’m calm and I think I’m ready to play well,” Chie insists.

“We had the duel between Lee Westwood and Francesco Molinari at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai last November and people are still talking about that,” says Giles Morgan of the event won by the young Italian.

“That battle was compared, not equal to, but compared with the 1977 Duel In The Sun at Turnberry between Nicklaus and Watson; that’s how special duels are and if we have one in the final round in Singapore the fans are in for a treat!” he adds.

 

Arimura, who has never won an LPGA tournament, will be paired Sunday with Webb and world No. 1 Yani Tseng of Taiwan, who shot a 69 Saturday and is six strokes off the lead.

 

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PGA Tour vs European Tour...Golf Smackdown?

The European Tour continues to grow in popularity and this week is no exception as six of the top ten golfers in the official world rankings embrace the WGC HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship as the competitive "tournament of choice".

Mickelson used to enjoy playing his season-opener at the Bob Hope Classic but is it just the stress of a five-day event that has Phil fleeing or is it the allure of $1 million that is tempting Lefty to visit Abu Dhabi?

In order to entice more PGA Tour golfers to play across the pond, spiffs are an integral part of the deal for notables like Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, who will reportedly receive $3 million to show up in Dubai next month.

The diverse environment also interests Mickelson. "It has been great for me and my family to experience a lot of different cultures and learn from them."

U.S. golfers who add European Tour events to their schedule are being given a royal welcome by their hosts and appearance fees. The grueling PGA Tour schedule with "rigid rules", as mentioned by world's number-one golfer Lee Westwood, also requires play in fifteen events as opposed to thirteen...and the PGA Tour does not offer appearance fees. So, why fly the friendly skies?

Westwood, who gave up his PGA Tour membership, has snubbed in protest various events like the FedEx Cup and most recently, the Players Cup. Other Euro Tour golfers like Rory McIlroy have joined Westwood in his quest to remain Euro-centric and possibly to enhance the importance of their Tour.

In the picture below, newly named 2012 Ryder Cup Captain Jose Maria Olazabal is at the helm of the Abu Dhabi Ocean racing entry with possible picks. Is that Phil Mickelson readying to play for "Team Europe"? Quick Davis, offer an appearance fee...

 
credit


I mentioned a few weeks ago that it would be a good idea for the PGA and Euro Tour to mediate in order to give opportunities for the golfers to play either venue.

Westwood's manager, Chubby Chandler pointed out, "There are too many people in power thinking only about their own interests rather than what's good for the game. It does my head in to think the world No 1 in his sport can't play in a tournament he wants to play in, and which the sponsor wants him to play in."

"The Players is a big PGA Tour event – but that's all it is."

To put it in Rory McIlroy's words, "The PGA Tour won’t miss me, because no one player is bigger than the tour.”


I think a Smackdown is on the horizon. Does 'The Rock' play golf?


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WGC-HSBC Champions Puts Exclamation Mark on Europe’s Miraculous Year

The day before his 28^th birthday, Francesco Molinari put the finishing touches on four days of incredible golf, becoming the first wire-to-wire winner of the WGC-HSBC Champions and emphatically proving that world golf in 2010 belonged almost exclusively to Europe, Tim Maitland reports.

For the first time Europe Tour members claimed three of the four WGC titles (Ian Poulter won the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and Ernie Els took the WGC-CA Championship) to add to three Majors (Graeme McDowell/US Open, Louis Oosthuizen/Open Championship and Martin Kaymer/PGA Championship) and the small matter of the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.

“I'm a European Tour Member, I'm proud to be a European Tour golfer, and it's a great moment for European golf and I'm really happy to give my contribution to that,” said Molinari, who also capped an unprecedented year for Italian golf too, by adding his name to that of his brother Edoardo and teenager Matteo Manassero on the season’s list of winners.

Positioned first and second each day and separated only by one shot at the close of each round on the further-toughened Sheshan International Golf Club track, Molinari and new world number-one Lee Westwood put on a stunning display throughout.

 

On the final day both shot five-under-par 67s (a score bettered only by Katsumasa Miyamoto), despite being in the pressure-cooker environment of the leading group. Neither had a bogey in their final round, and Westwood’s cards were unblemished throughout the weekend as the two of them left the rest of a world-class field miles behind; Luke Donald and Richie Ramsey tied for third, ten shots adrift of Molinari’s 19-under total of 269.

“I think the difference in score between us and the rest of the field shows you how good [sic] we played, and I'm sure it was a great show for everybody who was watching here on TV, as well,” said the Inter Milan fan, who apart from winning the Omega Mission Hills World Cup for Italy with his brother in 2009, was probably best known for being on the wrong end of a Tiger Woods master-class on the final day at Celtic Manor.

“I'm obviously amazed the way I played, and you know, to have the number-one player in the world trailing you by one shot, it's not easy.  I was under pressure all the time, pretty much from the first round. It's great, not only the way I hit the ball, but the way the mind was working.

 

I managed to stay calm, play my game, and holed putts when I had to hole putts. I think the experience of playing with Tiger Woods in The Ryder Cup definitely helped me in the last couple of days. Obviously they [Woods and Westwood] are different players, but when you are playing against the number-one golfer in the world, it is not easy to always stick to the game plan and do your own game,” Molinari said.

 

For the first time in the history of golf, the world number one ranking was up for grabs at an Asian tournament.

 

Westwood, in defeat, won the four-way battle with Woods, Kaymer and Mickelson. Tiger Woods was sixth on 7-under, Kaymer 30^th on minus 2 and Phil Mickelson, twice a Shanghai winner, 41^st and one-over par for the tournament. Having arrived at the HSBC Champions as the newly-crowned world number one, ending Tiger’s five-year monopoly of the position, Westwood delivered a display worthy of that ranking and further strengthened his grip on it.

“No negatives in a performance like that!” Westwood declared. “The rankings come as a consequence of playing well, and I'm playing well and I know I am.”

As well as Westwood winning the skirmish for the number one ranking, the Englishman proved that he had taken up another of Tiger’s mantles. The world number one has now been in contention in the final holes on the final day of the HSBC Champions three times. Just as Tiger Woods did in 2005 and 2006, in 2010 the world number one also came second.

All the other battles within the battle went to Europe too. In the first encounter of the game’s great and good since Celtic Manor four members of the winning Ryder Cup team were in the top five – Molinari, Westwood, Donald and Rory McIlroy. Only one American team member – Woods – made it into the top 20 in Shanghai, against eight of the twelve in the European side.

The other winners were the tournament itself and golf in China and Asia. After a successful debut as a WGC event in 2009, 2010 confirmed that the concept of a World Golf Championship event on the other side of the world to golf’s heartlands is a success. Crowds were close to 2009’s record-setting figures with over 31,000 attending the event, and the record-breaking TV coverage increased again, particularly with highlight shows on terrestrial channels in Asia.

To put the rise of the HSBC Champions in perspective, two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen struggled to think of another event anywhere in the world during his career that has risen to prominence the way the Shanghai tournament has since its inception in 2005.

“Good question. Not too many,” said ‘The Goose’. “I’m thinking about the event at Quail Hollow in America; that became very popular within five years: a great golf course, good field. But for an international event this is definitely the number one!”

 

Thanks to Tim Maitland for a tournament wrap-up of the WGC-HSBC Champions Tournament!

 

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Golf: Is China Coming?

Addressing China’s emergence into world of golf is not a question of “if”, it’s a question of “how fast?” Tim Maitland reports.

There are few definitive truths one can utter about a nation of China’s massive scale. There are, however, some useful generalizations about the “Middle Kingdom” especially in the last ten or twenty years. Firstly, it tends to develop in whatever it is doing far quicker than almost all outside predications. Secondly, China, just as it did with its “socialist market economy”, tends to find its own way. The same broad brush strokes apply for golf.

Just as surpassing Japan’s gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2010 confirmed China’s status as an economic power, China’s position as a global tournament host has also been confirmed. It took just one edition of the HSBC Champions as a World Golf Championships event to complete a process started by the Volvo China Open, the first truly international Chinese professional event in 1995, to convince most of the naysayers that Shanghai was going to work. One of the little asterisks – whether it should count as an official PGA Tour win - was quickly removed, and this year it did… for the tour’s existing members at least.

That it happened faster than anyone imagined is beyond issue. As world number one golfer Lee Westwood exclaimed recently: “It’s achieved a high-profile status very quickly, amazingly quickly when you look at other tournaments and how much history they have before they achieve that kind of fame.”

Westwood also neatly plucked out three factors that indicate that Shanghai’s growing importance on the global golf calendar – this is after all the event that Tiger Woods describes as “the crowning jewel of all of Asian golf” – is unlikely to do anything but continue its upward trend:

“The Chinese economy is probably the strongest economy in the world right now, it’s a good tournament...and it’s a great golf course; that’s really all you can ask for,” Westwood said.

The point seems to have been taken on board across the board in America, where the credit crunch closed courses and the stagnation in terms of the numbers of golfers is increasingly being seen as a decline. Couple that with the fact that a very American golfer like Nick Watney currently sports the logos of Japanese luxury carmaker Lexus and German fashion brand Hugo Boss and you’re dealing with a very different, worldly generation of American players.

“The markets here and in Europe aren’t growing and are maybe even shrinking. I kind of figured that the way that China was going economically and technologically I thought that golf would follow, but it seemed to happen very quickly,” said Watney, sounding convincingly like a CEO himself.

“A World Golf [Championships event] in China, I think, is great for the game," continued Watney. "Obviously, Asia is booming right now so we need to follow that. When the best players continue to show up that validates that it is a real event. When they win it shows that they are taking it seriously and it’s a good golf course if the top names do well.”

A roll of honour that working backwards from 2009 goes Mickelson-Garcia-Mickelson-Yang would seem to illustrate Watney’s point rather well.

The addition of the PGA Tour’s first foray into South East Asia (the limited field CIMB Asia Pacific Classic took place at The Mines Resort in Malaysia the week before Shanghai) is further indication that China’s place on the world-class calendar is beyond reproach. It also signals that the battle for position either side of the first week of November is truly on with the Barclays Singapore Open competing with the JB Were (Australian) Masters as the quality of field across the region skyrockets.

“To go over there for one week is kinda silly, so I don’t see why guys won’t go over there and play more,” Watney explains. “There’ll be more than one or two events. You have a huge market over there and if it’s growing and wants golf you’d be a fool to not do it. I think it will only grow.”

That the number of golf courses in China will continue to grow as well is also beyond doubt. Despite a  long-standing moratorium at central government level making permission for new layouts harder to get, China has found a Chinese solution and, loathe as one is to make broad sweeping statements, many of the world’s top golf course designers are there and they’re not there on holiday.

The question now is how? To understand the way golf is evolving in China it helps to think of golf as a feature, like an elaborate marble fountain; a centerpiece to a real estate lifestyle business. That will only continue; Imperial Springs near Guangzhou, which is close to completion, will make all the palatial developments that have preceded it look, in comparison, for want of a better word… a bit Caddyshack.

Among the more promising developments for those of us who can’t let go of our western concepts of “sport” being something more in a Corinthian way, isn’t the massive new Mission Hills project on Hainan Island, although that points the way to where the world’s next big tourist magnet will be, but the low-grade locally-designed tracks that form a part of the equally enormous but little-known Nanshan International Golf Club in Shandong province. It is also worth remembering that virtually all of the members clubs allow daily-fee golf and that as China’s middle class grows wealthier the sport is going to become more affordable to them.

However, arguing that golf in China needs to trickle down the societal layers to reach the masses before we can address the next question – where China’s stars are going to come from – is made redundant by Korea’s example.

The Land of the Morning Calm has produced if not one of the greatest generations, certainly the single greatest year group of women golfers the world has ever seen without them ever seeing golf courses regularly. Shin Ji-Yai, Kim In-Kyung, Choi Na-Yeon – the so-called “Dragon Ladies” –   honed their games on the top tier of Korea’s multi-story urban driving ranges not on the drastically expensive, tee-off-at-5 a.m.-oversubscribed golf courses.

As well as proving that access to courses isn’t critical, Korea also provides possibly the greatest wisdom when it comes to answering where the future China’s Tiger Woods, Mickelson, Wie or Miyazato is going to emerge from. For the sake of finding a fancy name for it, we could call it the “Shin-Park paradigm” after two of Korea’s most recent women’s Major winners, Shin Ji-Yai and Park In-Bee. Ji-Yai grew up as a golfer in Korea, winning on the KLPGA as a high-school student in 2005. In-Bee went to the States at the age of twelve to do her growing there.

The answer to the Shin-Park puzzle in China is probably both. The clues, when it comes to looking into the future, ironically, won’t be found during the week of the WGC-HSBC Champions but the week before. That’s when the year-long HSBC National Junior Championship had its own version of the Champions – a winners-only finale at the Sino-Bay Country Sports Club located in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park outside Shanghai.

In its fourth year, the HSBC National Junior Championship passed a notable landmark; the entry list at Sino-Bay took the number of children to have benefited from an early taste of tournament golf past one thousand! The HSBC China Junior Golf Program has now introduced over eight thousand children to the sport through its summer and winter camps and 200,000 children have swung a club for the first time through the schools scheme which introduces golf into the PE curriculum at primary and middle schools.

 Credit: Getty Images

If you’re asking yourself whether China’s fledgling golf industry – remembering that the first modern course only opened in 1984 – is mature enough to grow future champions yet, it’s worth heeding the reaction of PGA Tour pro Jason Dufner after he’d given a clinic for some of the younger juniors before last year’s WGC-HSBC Champions.

“The basics were unbelievable.  Some of them were a little limited because of their size but I think where their age range is it was pretty incredible for what they were doing, from what I’ve seen,” Dufner said, comparing the 10-12-year-old kids he saw favourably with their American counterparts.

“I think they’re way ahead from what I’ve seen," Duffner related. " I think in ten years time there might be a lot of Chinese golfers on the PGA and LPGA Tours.  I think some of the better players that I saw would hold their own if they went to the US… they would be very, very competitive against their age bracket for sure.”

A more cautionary note was sounded recently by Asian Tour Executive Chairman Kyi Hla Han who questioned whether the tournament structure was in place to grow China’s male professionals. Han might have a point, but reports of his comments also failed to acknowledge the existence of the China PGA Tour as a successor to the Omega China Tour, which is far less visible than its predecessor outside of the Chinese language and, at the time of writing, the number of professional men’s tournaments in China in 2010 looked likely to match those of the previous two seasons.

The probability is that the women will come before the men, or, remembering how Jenny Feng Shanshan came from nowhere as a teenager to earn her LPGA card, the girls will come before the boys. The reality is, for every Matteo Manassero, Rory McIlroy and Ryo Ishikwawa, there are many more young female golfers who have proved competitive at an early age at the pinnacle of the women’s game. The domestic tour – the China LPGA – is in its second year and aims at staging ten tournaments annually: Zhang Na’s four wins on the Japan LPGA in 2007 have established an alternative roadmap to the American route.

It’s already been suggested that the girls’ work ethic exceeds that of the Chinese boys by one high-profile overseas coach. And while one makes generalizations with trepidation, perhaps also the Asian serenity, what long-time LPGA caddie Shaun Clews refers to as a “certain calmness” that the Korean stars benefit from, will also serve the Chinese girls too.

Whether it will be the regular winners on the HSBC National Junior Championship (girls like Apple Yang Jiaxin, Lu Yue or, of the younger ones, Lucy Shi Yuting and boys like Zhang Jin or Zhou Tian) or those following the Park In-Bee route (Cindy Feng Yueer and the unrelated Feng Simin are both prominent on the American junior circuit) or one of the young men going through the US Colleges (Hu Mu, Wang Minghao or Han Ren) that will arrive first, only time will tell.

Simin, originally from Beijing, is already an AJGA Rolex All-American while Yueer, from the city of Shenzhen in China’s golfing heartland Guangdong province, rates in the top on Golfweek’s junior ranking despite being a couple of years younger than her rivals, but then as a counterpoint Feng Shanshan was hardly on anyone’s radar outside Guangzhou when she went to the LPGA’s Q School. Lucy Shi, at the tender age of 12, looks like a carbon copy of Shin Ji-Yai when she was still a teenager, and although a lot can go wrong in the next six years, Shi looks more likely to star rather than just feature on the LPGA.

The reality is that all these players are going to get greater opportunities because of golf’s entry to the Olympics in 2016. Olympic status has moved the China Golf Association from a cul-de-sac (it was until a couple of years ago lumped in with and effectively financially supporting sports like cricket and snooker in the so-called “small ball” section) onto the six-lane superhighway of China’s sports ministry, The State General Administration of Sports.

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who might not claim to be a China “expert”, might have hit the nail on the head with his broad, sweeping statement about the future of Chinese golf.

“We’ve seen some strong players emerging. Once they put their mind to golf we’ll see more,” Stenson stated. “The focus now – because of the Olympics – it’s just going to keep on working away and it’s going to be interesting to follow these next ten years.”

So the answer when you ask whether China is coming is an emphatic "yes!" The question that remains is just where from, how many and how fast?

China's Golf Timeline on Golf for Beginners

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Can the PGA and LPGA Tour bring Asian golf to the ROW?

The popularity of golf is escalating to a fevered frenzy in Asia but can the PGA and LPGA Tour help bring this emerging market to the rest of the world?

With the WGC-HSBC Champions event combining the talents of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for a possible dream match and Michelle Wie needing a bodyguard to keep fans at bay during the LPGA Malaysia, Asian golf fans are coming out in droves to witness star power in professional golf.

The Asian golf market is relatively unknown here in the USA but has plenty of events during the season sanctioned by the Asian Tour, OneAsia and the Japan Golf Tour. It appears as if all of the Tours operate independently of each other instead of combining strength to create one professional commission with larger purses and better known talent. The LPGA has already established the Japan and Korean Tours but the Ladies Asian Golf Tour remains a separate entity.

In July, Tim Finchem made rumblings that there may be more PGA Tour events springing up in China, Japan and Korea. Currently there are two such events; the inaugural Asia Pacific Classic in Malaysia (co-sanctioned by both the PGA Tour and Asian Tour) and the HSBC-WGC event in Shanghai.

In other words, if you can't bring the Asian Tour to the USA, bring the action of the PGA Tour to Asia.

Although the number of Asian golfers is "increasing in the majors" as Tim Clark has mentioned, Ernie Els doubts that golfers will make the long trip to the region. This, in my opinion, may keep Asian golf segmented from the rest of the world.

"It's a very long way from the U.S. to Asia so any more golf tournaments over here," said Els. It's going to be tough for players to travel. They have a full schedule anyway in the U.S. but it will be interesting to see what the commissioner [Tim Finchem] thinks about it."

Luke Donald has agreed with Els adding that more events on the PGA Tour roster may make the field "a little bit diluted." On the flip-side, Donald sees golf as global adding, that "people want to see the U.S. players playing in Malaysia, China or Japan"

"New events like this tend to increase fan support for the game and create awareness that there are great places around the world to play golf in."

Even though every win still counts and the event money is good, the Asian Swing might deter golfers because of the distance to travel. On the flip side, the Asia-Pacific Classic has a very solid group making the trip: the top twenty-five players on the FedEx Cup standings along with the top ten golfers from the Asian Tour and five sponsor exemptions for a select group of forty will play in this week's event.

Adding the star power of Michelle Wie and Natalie Gulbis to the region for last week's LPGA event in Malaysia will also help gain momentum for an Asian Swing. With all of the professional Tours working together to bring golf into the region by coinciding their events, this Asian Swing can be a success for the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Asian Tours and most importantly, the fans and the growth of golf.

Also read about golf supremacy in Russia?

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Phil Mickelson unveils HSBC Champions official World Golf Championships trophy

Two-time HSBC Champions winner Phil Mickelson has helped to unveil the new trophy for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions: 'The Old Tom Morris Cup', reports Tim Maitland.

The new cup and name are in keeping with the other three World Golf Championships events, which also boast similarly-designed Wedgwood trophies named after golfing legends. The World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship awards The Walter Hagen Cup to the winner, the World Golf Championships-CA Championship offers The Gene Sarazen Cup, and the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational winner holds aloft The Gary Player Cup.

 “I am really fond of the original trophy, which can happen when you win something more than once,” says Mickelson, who lifted the 2007 HSBC Champions and then became the first winner of the tournament following its elevation to World Golf Championships status in 2009.

“But the new trophy has even greater worldwide significance. First, it is instantly recognizable as one of the WGC prizes, second, it carries the name of one of the legends of golf. Third, and perhaps most importantly, it is proof of just how fast the game of golf in China and Asia has evolved and how significant that growth is to the world of golf,” the four-time Major champion adds.

In choosing Old Tom Morris the world’s local bank has found a figure recognizable to the established golf world. HSBC chose one of the famous names in the history of Scottish golf because the pioneering work “Old” Tom Morris did in the 1800s to shape the game of golf is symbolic of the pioneering work being done in Chinese golf now.

“Old Tom represents the birth of the game of golf. Asia, China and the WGC-HSBC Champions in varying ways represent the future of the sport and, you could argue, will in time be looked at as being part of one of the most dramatic shifts for golf since Old Tom’s era,” says Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

“The WGC-HSBC Champions could be described as the nucleus which has shaped the way tournament golf in Asia is evolving and developing on the world stage, in the same way the Old Tom Morris helped shape and define the sport of golf” he adds.

Padraig Harrington, Ireland’s three-time Major winner, describes Old Tom as one of the bedrocks on which the sport was built.

“He’s the heritage of the game! He was one of the first Open Champions and won it four times; it adds a lot to an event when it has heritage and I know it takes a long time to build heritage, but this helps" said Harrington. "It’s a trophy that anyone would be proud to lift and they’ll be proud of the association with Old Tom Morris and the history that goes with that. It’ll help the players feel even more about the event and it’ll make it that little bit more special.”

Morris was greenkeeper and golf professional on the Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland; a four-time winner of The Open Championship and ranked among the top links course designers of the 19th Century. Among the 75 courses he designed or remodelled are some of Scotland’s world-famous courses, including Carnoustie, Muirfield and Royal Dornoch.

“You’re talking about one of the legends of the game. You talk about Tom Morris you’re talking about Prestwick and St Andrews and you’re talking about a game steeped in history; the legends of the game are hugely important to us!” exclaimed 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell.

“Guys like him shaped the game we play now. How different would it be if you didn’t have Old Tom Morris, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods?  How big is the game now? A TV spectacle, a global game, you just look at the milestones of the game and he’s one of them.”

In one way or another, “Old” Tom influenced almost every aspect of the sport. He helped to set up the first (British) Open Championship in 1860 and competed in every Open until 1896. Various authorities and experts have attributed everything from standardising the number of holes to 18, the size of the golf hole, the appearance of bunkers and several fundamentals of greenkeeping to the influence of “Old” Tom.

“Old” Tom Morris, who was born in St. Andrews in 1821 and died there in 1908, is remembered as a true pioneer and exponent of golf.

In recognition of his service, the R&A has hung his portrait on permanent display in its clubhouse, while the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's most prestigious honour is the Old Tom Morris Award.

WGC Winners

16 – Tiger Woods (USA)*

3 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS)

2 – Phil Mickelson (USA)

2 – Ernie Els (USA)**

2 – Darren Clarke (NIR)

1 – Hunter Mahan (USA)

1 – Ian Poulter (ENG)

1 – Henrik Stenson (SWE)

1 – David Toms (USA)

1 – Kevin Sutherland (USA)

1 – Steve Stricker (USA)

1 – Jeff Maggert (USA)

1 – Mike Weir (CAN)

1 – Vijay Singh (FIJ)

1 – Stewart Cink (USA)

1 – Craig Parry (AUS)

*plus 2000 World Cup

**plus 2001 World Cup

HSBC Champions

Format: 72-holes, stroke play, no cut
Field: Approximately 78 players, consisting of tournament winners from around the world and the best players from the International Federation of PGA Tours, as dictated by each Tour’s money list, order of merit, etc.

2009 – Phil Mickelson (USA) 271 (-17) (Sheshan International GC, Shanghai, China)

2008* – Sergio Garcia (ESP)

2007* – Phil Mickelson (USA)

2006* – YE Yang Yong-Eun (KOR)

2005* – David Howell (ENG) 268 (-20)

* = Before granted WGC status

Bridgestone Invitational*

Format: 72-holes, stroke play, no cut
Field: Members of the most recent United States and International Presidents Cup teams and the United States and European Ryder Cup teams. Players ranked among the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking. The past year’s Major winners.

2010 – Hunter Mahan (USA) 268 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2009 – Tiger Woods (USA) 268 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2008 – Vijay Singh (FIJ) 270 (-10) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2007 – Tiger Woods (USA) 272 (-8) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2006 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-10) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2005 – Tiger Woods (USA) 274 (-6) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2004 – Stewart Cink (USA) 269 (-11) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2003 – Darren Clarke (NIR) 268 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2002 – Craig Parry (AUS) 268 (-16) (Sahalee CC, Washington, USA)

2001 – Tiger Woods (USA) 269 (-12) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

2000 – Tiger Woods (USA) 259 (-21) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

1999 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-10) (Firestone CC, Ohio, USA)

*From 1999- 2005 known as NEC Invitational

CA Championship*

Format: 72 holes, stroke play, no cut
Field: 65-70, including 44 of the top 50 from the Official World Golf Rankings and leaders of the six Tours' Official Money Lists/Order of Merit.

2010 – Ernie Els (RSA) 270 (-18) (Doral, Florida, USA)

2009 – Phil Mickelson (USA) 269 (-19) (Doral, Florida, USA)

2008 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 271 (-17) (Doral, Florida, USA)

2007 – Tiger Woods (USA) 278 (-10) (Doral, Florida, USA)

2006 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-23) (The Grove, Hertfordshire, England)
2005 – Tiger Woods (USA) 270 (-10) (play-off) (Harding Park, San Francisco, California, USA)

2004 – Ernie Els (RSA) 270 (-18) (Mount Juliet Conrad, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland)

2003 – Tiger Woods (USA) 274 (-6) (Capital City Club, Atlanta, Georgia, USA)

2002 – Tiger Woods (USA) 263 (-25) (Mount Juliet Conrad, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland)

2001 – Cancelled (Bellerive, St. Louis, Missouri, USA)

2000 – Mike Weir (CAN) 277 (-11) (Valderrama, Spain)

1999 - Tiger Woods (USA) 278 (-10) (play-off) (Valderrama, Spain)

*From 1999-2006 known as American Express Championship

Accenture Match Play Championship

Format: Match Play

Field: Top 64 available players (Based on the Official World Golf Ranking)

2010 – Ian Poulter (ENG) 4&2 vs Paul Casey (Dove Mountain, Arizona, USA)  

2009 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 4&3 vs. Paul Casey (Ritz-Carlton GC, Arizona, USA)

2008 – Tiger Woods (USA) 8&7 vs. Stewart Cink.  (Ritz-Carlton GC, Arizona, USA)

2007 – Henrik Stenson (SWE) 2&1 vs. Geoff Ogilvy  (Gallery,  Arizona, USA)

2006 – Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 3&2 vs. Davis Love III (La Costa, California, USA) 

2005 – David Toms (USA) 6&5 vs. Chris DiMarco (La Costa, California, USA) 
2004 – Tiger Woods (USA) 3&2 vs. Davis Love III (La Costa, California, USA) 
2003 – Tiger Woods (USA) 2&1 vs.  David Toms (La Costa, California, USA) 
2002 – Kevin Sutherland (USA) 1 up vs. Scott McCarron 1 up (La Costa, California, USA) 
2001 – Steve Stricker (USA) 2&1 vs. Pierre Fulke (Metropolitan GC, Victoria, Australia)
2000 – Darren Clarke (NIR) 4&3 vs. Tiger Woods (La Costa, California, USA) 
1999 – Jeff Maggert (USA) 38 holes vs. Andrew Magee (La Costa, California, USA) 

Note: From 2000 to 2006 the World Cup was a WGC event. Winners as follows:

2006 - Germany (Bernhard Langer/Marcel Siem) 268 (play-off) (Sandy Lane, Barbados)

2005 – Wales (Bradley Dredge/Stephen Dodd) 189 (Victoria Clube, Algarve, Portugal)

2004 – England (Paul Casey/Luke Donald) 257 (Real Club, Seville, Spain)

2003 – South Africa (Rory Sabbatini/Trevor Immelman) 275 (Kiawah Island, South Carolina, USA)

2002 – Japan (Shigeki Maruyama/Toshimitsu Izawa) 252 (Vista Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)

2001 – South Africa (Ernie Els/Retief Goosen) 264 (play-off) (Taiheiyo Club, Shizuoka, Japan)

2000 – United States (Tiger Woods/David Duval) 254 (Buenos Aires GC, Argentina)

Golf for Beginners thanks Tim Maitland for this informative article.

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WGC-HSBC Champions – Caddies share how to finish strong at Sheshan

WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan – One of the most exciting finishes in golf?

Ernie Els teeing off on the 18th hole at Sheshan International Golf Club

The WGC-HSBC Champions, which takes place this month (Nov), has rapidly built itself a global reputation, not just as one of the world’s leading events, but for both the quality of the Sheshan International Golf Club course and the thrills and drama of the closing holes.

Reigning HSBC Caddie of the Year Billy “Foz” Foster, who has guided Lee Westwood through his rise to superstar status sat down with Tim Maitland to explain how to plot your way through the closing holes of the Shanghai course, including the rollercoaster 16th, which Phil Mickelson called “one of the coolest holes” in world golf. Foster was joined by fellow-Yorkshireman Phil “Wobbly” Morbey, Ross Fisher’s caddie whose 30 years on tour include long spells with legends Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Sheshan International Golf Club - an overview

The 7,266 yard (6,6643 metre) Nelson & Haworth designed layout is becoming famous for producing some of the best greens the players see anywhere in the world all year and some of the most spectacular, nail-chewing, rollercoaster-ride drama in the closing holes.

Wobbly: It’s a course that makes the caddies think a bit more, because you’ve got options on how to play it. You’ve got to suss out how your player is playing and how he’s swinging it and what the situation is in the tournament because it changes whether you’re winning or losing, especially the last few holes. There’s a few ways of playing the course; depending on where they stick the flags and where they stick the tees, your strategy can change. You can only lose it the first two days so you have to play it a bit more sensibly.

I think it’s a very good course and you’ve got to hit a lot of good shots.

Foz: It does give you a lot of options off the tee. You can be more defensive or if you want to attack it you can get some better lines into the greens.

Click here for the WGC-HSBC Champions 18 hole version.

Hole 14 Par 5 594 yards 543 metres

Foz: You’re trying to thread your driver up the right hand side, but it’s very easy to hit it into the big bunker on the left. If there’s not much wind you can get home in two, but again you’re coming on over the water and across the angle of the green. It’s easy to hit it over the back on the left side of the green. You can also hit it to finish just short left of the green, but most guys at this level, if they’ve got a chance to “flag” a three wood or five wood, they’re going to go straight at it and try and make eagle.

Wobbly: If you’re on the fairway you’d have to go for it. If you just overcut you’re second shot though, it will take the bank and go back into the water, so it needs a good shot to get it on the green.

Hole 15 Par 4 487 yards 445 metres

Foz: It’s a horrible hole.

Wobbly: The green is really tough here.

Foz: Most guys will go straight over the bunker on the left side of the fairway and try and get it right to the bottom of the hill, leaving a seven or eight iron. The green is a minefield. If you don’t hit this fairway you ain’t hitting this green in two. There are three or four different levels to this green and it’s very important to be on the right level. It’s probably the toughest hole on the golf course.

Wobbly: If you don’t get in the right position on the green with your second shot it’s a definite three putt… unless you hole a 10-footer for par.

Hole 16 Par 4 288 yards 263 metres

Foz: This is a great hole… a great hole! Death or glory! This is where you’ve got to (take a deep breath), stand up and hit your shot. You can take the chicken’s way out; a four or five iron down the left side, leaving yourself a little wedge into the green and you’d probably make two birdies out of four. You’d probably score better than what you’d do with a three wood or a driver, but you just can’t help yourself! You see a chance to make a two and an easy three. It’s always a little cutty driver or a massive strong three wood and if you miss the green two yards right you’re in trouble and you’re making bogey.

Wobbly: And the pot bunker on the left of the green… you’re dead there as well. Usually they have the pin pushed front left towards that bunker and if you miss it left you’ve got no shot.

Foz: It’s a fantastic golf hole and it goes to show that length isn’t everything. Some of the best par fours in the world are short par fours. This hole it’s quite easy to make eagle and it’s quite easy to make double-bogey. That’s the beauty of the hole!

Wobbly: They’re great finishing holes. You can win it or lose it on these last three or four holes.

Hole 17 Par 3 212 yards 194 metres

Foz: It’s normally a seven iron off the tee, maybe more this year. It’s a pretty funky green. You’re looking to get it on the right level and if you’re not on the right level it’s a tough two putt. It’s a fairly straight-forward par three although it can run away from you at the back of the green.

Wobbly: It’s a middle of the green shot. You can’t be too fancy here. Just take your par. 

Hole 18 Par 5 538 yards 492 metres

Foz: You’re hitting across the fairway a little bit and there’s a big down slope right where most guys will finish so they’re either right on the top of the hill or they’re on the down slope, which makes the second shot very, very difficult.

It’s a very subtle hazard. You’re hitting off a down slope, but you’re trying to get the ball up because you want the ball to be coming in from as high as possible because the green, which has water on three sides, runs away from you and it’s pretty firm. If you’re on that down slope, you’re better off laying up.

Wobbly: We were there one day last year… with a four iron and it still wasn’t even worth it. That’s where Ernie screwed up last year, playing off that down slope he went in the water.

Foz: If you don’t have a flat lie for your second shot you are just asking for trouble. You could do worse than hit it into the left greenside bunker, but even that’s a difficult shot because the green’s rock hard and runs away from you.

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WGC-HSBC Champions – Caddies share how to finish strong at Sheshan (18 hole version)

The WGC-HSBC Champions, which takes place this month (Nov), has rapidly built itself a global reputation, not just as one of the world’s leading events, but for both the quality of the Sheshan International Golf Club course and the excitement and drama that every tournament has created. 

Reigning HSBC Caddie of the Year Billy “Foz” Foster, who has guided Lee Westwood through his rise to superstar status sat down with Tim Maitland to explain how to plot your way around the Shanghai course. He was joined by fellow-Yorkshireman Phil “Wobbly” Morbey, Ross Fisher’s caddie whose 30 years on tour include long spells with legends Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal.

 

Tiger Woods on the 8th hole at Sheshan International Golf Club

Sheshan International Golf Club - Hole by Hole

for Sheshan's 14-18 exciting finishing holes only, click here
 

Hole 1 Par 4 459 yards 420 metres

Foz: It’s a fairly straightforward tee shot. Most guys will hit driver and nine iron to an elevated green. You’re probably looking to hit the middle of the green because it’s so undulating. 

Wobbly: There are lots of run offs and into the wind it can be as much as driver/five iron! It becomes quite tough because you also have to keep the ball flight down a little bit. 

Hole 2 Par 5 550 yards 503 metres

Foz: A good tee shot. It’s a dog-leg right-to-left and it’s easy to get sucked in down the left; it’s a 295/300 yard carry and if you try to bite off more than you can chew you end up in the hazard. You’re looking to give yourself probably a five wood for the second shot. If you get your tee shot away you’d be disappointed not to make a birdie even though your second is over water. There’s a lot of room on the right half of the green, so a lot of the guys will be aiming to the middle/right with their second shot.

Wobbly: The second and third are your birdie holes.

Hole 3 Par 4 362 yards 331 metres

Foz: Three iron to a five wood off the tee. Some players will try and get a bit clever and feed it down the right to leave themselves a wedge, but basically you’re looking at 250 yards off the tee, short of the bunker, and leave yourself a wedge; that’s the percentage shot. It’s an elevated green. It’s a possible birdie hole really, but again you’re looking at the middle of the green because there’s a lot of run offs and slopes.

Wobbly: You can get too cute with driver off the tee and put it into the trees on the right or push it into the bunkers on the left, so I don’t see the point. It’s about eight yards uphill to the green, so it’s quite an elevation.

Hole 4 Par 3 200 yards 183 metres

Foz: I never even noticed the (thousand-year-old) trees around the green. It plays around a five iron and you’re aiming to hit the right half of the green, because the left side of the green is only 15 yards deep and it’s quite easy to go into the back bunker. Make your three and get out of there!

Wobbly: It’s quite a firm green and when the pin’s on the top right if you over-fade it the front bunker will gobble it up. It’s a tough trap shot from there.

Hole 5 Par 4 456 yards 417 metres

Foz: It’s a good, tight driving hole and it’s easy to leak it into the right-hand bunkers off the tee. You’re really struggling to get the ball onto the green if you’re in those bunkers. It’s 300 yards to carry them so they’re right in range for driver for 95% of the guys. The second shot is again elevated, uphill, and again a lot of runs offs.  Middle of the green is a good place to be again, but the emphasis is on the tee shot.

Wobbly: You don’t want to be through the green. You’ve got the trees and the out of bounds left (by the green) if you just tug it a little bit you’re out of bounds into that mucky little river.

Hole 6 Par 3 200 yards 183 metres

Wobbly: This is tough especially when the pin’s back left. You haven’t got much room at all and the green is pretty firm. It’s really another middle-of-the-green shot.

Foz: If you’re on the right-hand side everything feeds away from you and runs into a swale and then you’ve got a tricky chip up and over onto the green or a long putt.

Wobbly: And it all feeds into the water if you’re on the left.

Foz:  Make your three and escape. It’s one of the toughest holes on the course. You can quote me on that!

Hole 7 Par 4 346 yards 316 metres

Foz: It’s a tricky little hole really considering how short it is, but if you’re “on your numbers” it’s a definite birdie chance.

A lot of guys will hit a four iron short of the fairway bunkers, and a pitching wedge in. But it’s a tight green and it’s not very deep; it’s quite easy to go over the green and down into the really big swale to the left. And you’ve got to carry a bunker to get to the right half of the green and if you only just carry it the ball will shoot away from you.

Wobbly: If the pin is back-right it’s worth having a go with the driver, but if it is front left, getting at the pin with a driver is a really tricky shot and it can come back to bite you if you get it wrong.

Hole 8 Par 5 603 yards 551 metres

Foz: It’s a massive advantage if you’re big bomber because you can go 290 yards over the left-hand fairway bunker, can get it onto the flat and get home in two. For a lot of the guys it’s just out of range and to be going into that green with a three wood is a very dangerous shot. Most guys will play it as a three-shotter.

Wobbly: I think Alvaro Quiros hit seven iron for his second shot there last year! Some guys will just hit three wood, a long iron and wedge. Even with a wedge it’s still a tricky par five.

Foz: And it’s one of the firmest greens on the course. For the real long hitters they can be looking for birdies, but even as a three-shotter it’s still a pretty dangerous hole.

Hole 9 Par 4 486 yards 444 metres

Wobbly:  Caddying for “Goose” (Retief Goosen) last year he hit driver over the bunker every day. I was thinking to myself “this is some play”, but he had such a good, high flight. We played with Ishikawa one day and he hit driver after we did and he hit the down slope after the bunker and ended up in the water. It’s a brave play with driver on that hole. That’s why most guys will hit three wood.

Foz: The thing with hitting three wood right is that the angle on the second shot is much more difficult because you’re hitting across the green and coming more across the water. That’s why you see guys taking the risk with driver and going more down the left.

Hole 10 Par 4 401 yards 367 metres

Foz: Most guys will hit three iron off the tee and leave themselves probably an eight iron in to an elevated green. It’s a three-tiered green and it’s obviously very important to get it on the right level. It’s quite tricky to get it close to the hole: it’s quite easy to go through the back into the swale back-right and it’s quite easy to pitch it at the front and spin it back off the front and it runs quite a way off into a bowl short left.

Hole 11 Par 4 456 yards 417 metres

Foz: It’s a driver for most guys – 270 yards to carry a bunker on the right half of the fairway – a comfortable drive for most guys. It’s a fairly wide fairway, so it’s driver and a wedge and a birdie opportunity really. It’s a genuine birdie chance.

Wobbly: Yeah, yeah, yeah! It’s a fairly flat-ish green; there’s not too much to that hole.

Hole 12 Par 3 217 yards 198 metres

Foz: It’s a fairly difficult long par three with a narrow green which you’re hitting across a little bit with a five or six iron to a front pin and a three iron to a back pin. It’s a pretty tricky par three. You’re quite happy with a three all day long there. If you make the mistake of getting on the wrong side of the hump across the middle of the green you’re struggling to make a three from both sides.

Wobbly: It’s probably the hardest green to get close on.

Hole 13 Par 4 411 yards 376 metres

Foz: You’re hitting up, over the hill, dogleg left to right. Some guys will try and hit it down the left with a two iron or maybe a three wood, but most guys will try and carry the corner. It’s 270 yards to carry the right side. You might try and hit a cut here with the driver and try and get it to the bottom of the hill leaving yourself with a pitching wedge in. There are a couple of different tiers to the green, especially at the back, but if you get your tee shot away it’s definitely a birdie chance.

Hole 14 Par 5 594 yards 543 metres

Foz: You’re trying to thread your driver up the right hand side, but it’s very easy to hit it into the big bunker on the left. If there’s not much wind you can get home in two, but again you’re coming on over the water and across the angle of the green. It’s easy to hit it over the back on the left side of the green. You can also hit it to finish just short left of the green, but most guys at this level, if they’ve got a chance to “flag” a three wood or five wood, they’re going to go straight at it and try and make eagle.

Wobbly: If you’re on the fairway you’d have to go for it. If you just overcut you’re second shot though, it will take the bank and go back into the water, so it needs a good shot to get it on the green.

Hole 15 Par 4 487 yards 445 metres

Foz: It’s a horrible hole.

Wobbly: The green is really tough here.

Foz: Most guys will go straight over the bunker on the left side of the fairway and try and get it right to the bottom of the hill, leaving a seven or eight iron. The green is a minefield.  If you don’t hit this fairway you ain’t hitting this green in two. There are three or four different levels to this green and it’s very important to be on the right level. It’s probably the toughest hole on the golf course.

Wobbly: If you don’t get in the right position on the green with your second shot it’s a definite three putt… unless you hole a 10-footer for par.

Hole 16 Par 4 288 yards 263 metres

Foz: This is a great hole… a great hole! Death or glory! This is where you’ve got to (take a deep breath), stand up and hit your shot. You can take the chicken’s way out; a four or five iron down the left side, leaving yourself a little wedge into the green and you’d probably make two birdies out of four. You’d probably score better than what you’d do with a three wood or a driver, but you just can’t help yourself! You see a chance to make a two and an easy three. It’s always a little cutty driver or a massive strong three wood and if you miss the green two yards right you’re in trouble and you’re making bogey.

Wobbly: And the pot bunker on the left of the green… you’re dead there as well. Usually they have the pin pushed front left towards that bunker and if you miss it left you’ve got no shot.

Foz: It’s a fantastic golf hole and it goes to show that length isn’t everything. Some of the best par fours in the world are short par fours. This hole it’s quite easy to make eagle and it’s quite easy to make double-bogey. That’s the beauty of the hole!

Wobbly: They’re great finishing holes. You can win it or lose it on these last three or four holes.

Hole 17 Par 3 212 yards 194 metres

Foz: It’s normally a seven iron off the tee, maybe more this year. It’s a pretty funky green. You’re looking to get it on the right level and if you’re not on the right level it’s a tough two putt. It’s a fairly straight-forward par three although it can run away from you at the back of the green.

Wobbly: It’s a middle of the green shot. You can’t be too fancy here. Just take your par.

Hole 18 Par 5 538 yards 492 metres

Foz: You’re hitting across the fairway a little bit and there’s a big down slope right where most guys will finish so they’re either right on the top of the hill or they’re on the down slope, which makes the second shot very, very difficult.

It’s a very subtle hazard. You’re hitting off a down slope, but you’re trying to get the ball up because you want the ball to be coming in from as high as possible because the green, which has water on three sides, runs away from you and it’s pretty firm. If you’re on that down slope, you’re better off laying up.

Wobbly: We were there one day last year… with a four iron and it still wasn’t even worth it. That’s where Ernie screwed up last year, playing off that down slope he went in the water.

Foz: If you don’t have a flat lie for your second shot you are just asking for trouble. You could do worse than hit it into the left greenside bunker, but even that’s a difficult shot because the green’s rock hard and runs away from you.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The HSBC Caddie of the Year Awards

The annual caddie Oscars are, with the exception of the HSBC Caddie of the Year title (won by Billy “Foz” Foster in 2009), a light-hearted celebration of the contribution they make to the game. Foz and Wobbly were in the US when they sat down to give their insights to Sheshan, thousands of miles and months removed from the night, yet they were still talking about who won what in 2009 and who will take some of the more unwanted “accolades” this year.

Wobbly: The caddie awards are the highlight of the year!

Andy Prodger, KJ’s caddie who worked with Faldo, he’ll get “best dressed” caddie. You could put him in an Armani suit and he’d still look like a tramp. If he shows up he wins. He’s like Manchester United or Chelsea: if they show up they win.

They had “Boxie” (ex-pro and TV commentator Richard Boxall) up their presenting it one year, he’s very good. “Westie” (World number three Lee Westwood) was up there last year. Before that they had Howler (2005 HSBC Champions winner and former Ryder Cup player David Howell) which was very good. The banter’s great!

“Westie” and “Howler” are very quick. They asked Howler how important is it to have a good caddie. He said “I don’t know. I’ve never had one!”

Foz: It’s a good crack!

Wobbly: The awards are great and it’s a good laugh. Everybody relaxes and has a few beers.

Foz: When I got HSBC Caddie of the Year I was five per cent proud as opposed to 95 per cent embarrassed because I knew they’d all take the mickey. It’s a good family we have and it’s nice to be appreciated by someone like HSBC.

Sheshan – An Overview

The 7,266 yard (6,6643 metre) Nelson & Haworth designed layout is becoming famous for producing some of the best greens the players see anywhere in the world all year and some of the most spectacular, nail-chewing, rollercoaster-ride drama in the closing holes.

Wobbly: It’s a course that makes the caddies think a bit more, because you’ve got options on how to play it. You’ve got to suss out how your player is playing and how he’s swinging it and what the situation is in the tournament because it changes whether you’re winning or losing, especially the last few holes. There’s a few ways of playing the course; depending on where they stick the flags and where they stick the tees, your strategy can change. You can only lose it the first two days so you have to play it a bit more sensibly.

I think it’s a very good course and you’ve got to hit a lot of good shots.

Foz: It does give you a lot of options off the tee. You can be more defensive or if you want to attack it you can get some better lines into the greens.

WGC-HSBC Champions Sheshan International Golf Club 

HOLE	YDS	MTS	PAR		HOLE	YDS	MTS	PAR
1	459	420	4		10	401	367	4
2	550	503	5		11	456	417	4
3	362	331	4		12	217	198	3
4	200	183	3		13	411	376	4
5	456	417	4		14	594	543	5
6	200	183	3		15	487	445	4
7	346	316	4		16	288	263	4
8	603	551	5		17	212	194	3
9	486	444	4		18	538	492	5
OUT	3662	3348	36		IN	3604	3295	36
					TOTAL	7266

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