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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Mickelson, Montgomerie, Scott awed by China's future Golf Champions

2010 Valero Texas Open winner Adam Scott had been beaten by a girl before, just not by a 12-year-old. Playing the 17^th hole of the WGC-HSBC Champions Pro-Am, Scott found the bunker and made bogey. Little Lucy Shi Yuting, a thireteen-time winner in three years on the HSBC National Junior Championship, made par.

The significance is twofold, says the writer of this article, Tim Maitland.

 

The other girl to beat Scott was a few years ago and someone called Wie – Michelle Wie – and you can make a note that November 3^rd 2010 was the day when the elite of men’s golf truly came to realise that China is coming faster than they realized.

“These are the Olympic champions and world champions of the future. They’re fantastic! Fantastic!” raved Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning captain Colin Montgomerie after conducting a clinic with some of the younger children from the HSBC China Junior Golf Program.

“They’re proper golfers. They’re not just kids that can hit a golf ball on the range. These are complete golfers at nine years old: driver, putting, and short game!” Monty continued.

“I think in the next 10 years you’ll see a tremendous growth into competitive golf; I’m talking about into the world’s top 100. That’s inevitable. It’s going to happen. We have to accept that. The competition is coming from this part of the world: Korea, China especially. Golf is booming!”

As Monty was saying those words, Mickelson was coming off the course having also encountered Lucy Shi at the 17th, three days after she beat her rivals by 12 shots over three rounds at the HSBC National Junior Championship final.

“She hit a 6‑iron to about 15 feet from the hole, lipped out the putt and made par. She was an incredible player!” said Lefty.

“You could tell right away that she's got a lot of potential to be a great golfer.  She has a wonderful swing, a great short game, great putting stroke.  And at only 12, it's amazing how talented she is at such a young age.  I hope that she continues to develop and continues to play well and improve and become a force on the LPGA.”

Back on the range, Monty was echoing the words of PGA Tour player Jason Dufner who, a year earlier, having done the same clinic exclaimed the Chinese kids he saw were far superior to their equivalent age group in the States.

“Oh of course they are! Way ahead! And of course the work ethic here is different. These kids are prepared to put in the hours it takes nowadays to become very, very good. You can see how they love it. They’re all involved. It’s fantastic and the work ethic here is different to ours,” Monty said, adding that the focus of the kids he saw put him to shame.

“I was a lazy player myself; two or three hours and I was getting a little bit bored. These kids? Six, seven hours a day and just golf! Then they’re studying as well. This is where the future is. Now golf has become an Olympic sport, in this country it can only add to the opportunities given to them and the incentives given to them. They’re well ahead of our youngsters. If it’s a numbers game China wins every time hands down. I’ve had a successful career I suppose and I started at six and I couldn’t even get the ball airborne when I was ten, never mind hit the ball like this. These are golfers!”

Montgomerie’s comments came as the junior championship was celebrating the one thousandth child to compete in the elite tier of tournaments that have been running since 2007.

“A thousand children may not sound like a lot over the four years that we have been investing in the China Golf Association’s programme, but that’s the top of the pyramid,” said Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

“Below the top of that pyramid, we have had 8,000 children who have come through our summer and winter camps, learning the great game of golf, and below that, at the foundation of the pyramid, we have had 200,000 children touching golf for the first time in their schools’ PE lessons through the HSBC Education Program,” Morgan added.

Thanks to Tim Maitland for his fascinating insight into China's growing golf program.

 

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China Golf "Firsts"

China’s Golf "Firsts"

Golf in China is making it's move: read below to see China's golf history and timeline.

 

1984 - First modern golf course: Chung Shan Hot Spring, opens in Zhongshan, Guangdong province

1985 - May 24th. First governing body: the China Golf Association is established 

1986 - January. First “international” tournament: Chung Shan hosts the Chung Shan Cup, featuring foreign players but not recognised by any outside sanctioning bodies the Pro-Am event is hailed in China the first international tournament. 

1990 - September/October. First big event: The Asian Games golf tournament is held at Beijing Golf Club, Shunyi District. The Asian Games itself was the first large-scale international sports event to be held in the People’s Republic of China.

1994 - October. First medals: At the Asian Games in Hiroshima Zhang Lianwei wins an individual silver medal behind Kaname Yokoo, while China’s women’s team claims bronze.

1994 - April. First professionals: Zheng Wengen and John Xiao Chenghan are among a handful of golfers to become the first Chinese professionals when they pass a newly-introduced CGA exam.

1995 - First domestic tour: The Volvo China Tour, China’s first domestic circuit, consisted of four 36-hole tournaments.

1995 - April. First official international pro tournament: The Volvo China Open in Beijing (Beijing International Golf Club) is won by Raul Fretes of Paraguay. Total prize money was US$400,000.

1997 - April. First Chinese player to win an international tournament: Cheng Jun is victorious at the Volvo China Open in Beijing. 

2001 - November. First visit by a world number one: Tiger Woods makes his first trip to China, an exhibition at Mission Hills near Shenzhen in Guangdon

2003 - January. First Chinese win in a European Tour event: Zhang Lianwei wins the co-sanctioned Caltex Masters in Singapore.

2004 - First Chinese player in a Major championship: Zhang Lianwei receives an invitation to the Masters. 

2004 - May. First Chinese golf world record: Mission Hills entered into Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest golf club after its expansion to 180 holes.

2005 - November. First time to host Asia’s leading tournament: With US$5m prize money, the HSBC Champions, then Asia’s richest tournament, debuts in Shanghai. The inaugural tournament is won by English Ryder Cup star David Howell.

 

2007 - First fully-integrated junior development scheme: The HSBC China Junior Golf Program and HSBC National Junior Championships are launched. 

2007 - First Chinese to win Asian Tour’s Order of Merit: Liang Wenchong clinches the title with nine top-ten finishes including a win at the Singapore Masters.

2007 - First Chinese to join American college circuit: Han Ren enrolls on a golf scholarship at Indiana University

2008 - July. First weekend play in a Major: Liang Wenchong makes the cut at the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

2008 - November. First impact on the Official World Rankings: Sergio Garcia moves up to number two after winning the HSBC Champions. It’s the first time an Asian event has had such a profound effect on the global standings.

2009 - April. First Women’s Tour: The China Golf Association announces the birth of the China LPGA Tour. The circuit will have strong links with the Orient Golf chain, playing the majority of the events on their courses.

2009 - Asia’s first WGC event: WGC status is awarded to the HSBC Champions in April, making it indisputably Asia’s single-most important tournament. The event in November features Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing in the same tournament for the first time in Asia. Paired together in the leading group on the final day, Mickelson triumphs.

2010 - First Impact On World Number One: Four players - Lee Westwood, Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson – arrived in Shanghai for the 2010 WGC-HSBC Champions, knowing a good week would make the number one in the world. No Asian tournament had ever impacted the very top of the Official World Golf Ranking.

20??: China’s first world number one:??

Courtesy of Tim Maitland