HSBC Champions
Encyclopedia
The WGC-HSBC Champions is a men's professional golf
Professional golf
For information about professional golf see:*Professional golfer, which describes the various branches of the profession.*Professional golf tours, which covers elite professional competitive golf and links to more detailed articles about each tour....

 72-hole tournament. It has been contested annually since 2005 in November at the Sheshan Golf Club
Sheshan Golf Club
Sheshan Golf Club is a golf course located west of Shanghai, China.The course was designed by Nelson & Haworth Design, it plays to a par of 72 and measures 7,143 yards ....

 in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. In April 2009 it was announced that the tournament had been awarded World Golf Championships
World Golf Championships
The World Golf Championships are a group of four annual events for male professional golfers created by the International Federation of PGA Tours, with a fifth to be added in 2012...

 status, starting with the next tournament in November. It is now the fourth tournament on the worldwide calendar along with the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship is one of the annual World Golf Championships. It is a knockout event and is staged in January or February each year...

, the WGC-Cadillac Championship and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational is one of the annual World Golf Championships for male professional golfers. It is sanctioned and organized by the International Federation of PGA Tours and the prize money is official money on both the PGA Tour and the PGA European Tour...

 events.

2005–2008 fields

Invitations for the event, which was sanctioned by four—the European
PGA European Tour
The PGA European Tour is an organization which operates the three leading men's professional golf tours in Europe: the elite European Tour, the European Seniors Tour and the developmental Challenge Tour. Its headquarters are at Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England...

, the Asian
Asian Tour
The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. The Asian Tour is administered from offices in Singapore...

, and Sunshine Tour
Sunshine Tour
The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern Africa. For much of its history it was known either as the South African Tour or the FNB Tour, but it rebranded itself in an attempt to broaden its appeal...

s and the PGA Tour of Australasia
PGA Tour of Australasia
The PGA Tour of Australasia is a professional golf tour for men. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ranking points. The tour was formed in 1973 as the PGA Tour of Australia and adopted its current name in 1991....

—of the six constituent tours of International Federation of PGA Tours at that time, were issued to all players placed amongst the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings
Official World Golf Rankings
The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of male professional golfers...

 (OWGR). Also invited were players who had, during the calendar year
Calendar year
Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day. By convention, a calendar year consists of a natural number of days. To reconcile the calendar year with an astronomical cycle , certain years...

 preceding the event, captured at least one tournament title on a sanctioning tour, or had finished the preceding season amongst the top twenty in the European Tour's Race to Dubai (the Order of Merit standings through 2008) or amongst the top five in the Order of Merit standings of any of the other three sanctioning tours. Players who had finished first in the Order of Merit standings in any of three developmental tours
Minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

—the Von Nida and Challenge Tour
Challenge Tour
The Challenge Tour is the second tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and as with on the main European Tour and the European Seniors Tour, some of the events are played outside of Europe...

s and the winter swing
Sunshine Tour
The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern Africa. For much of its history it was known either as the South African Tour or the FNB Tour, but it rebranded itself in an attempt to broaden its appeal...

of the Sunshine Tour—were also invited. Finally, starting berths were also reserved for eight Chinese amateur
Amateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....

 and professional players to be selected by tournament organizers and sponsors, whether by qualifying tournament or not.

2009–2011 fields

The qualifying process changed when the event became a World Golf Championship. The 2009 field consisted primarily of winners of OWGR tournaments with a Strength of Field Rating of 40 or more (which corresponds to a OWGR rating of 16 or more). The set of tournaments are determined by the rating of tournaments from the 2007 HSBC Champions to the 2008 HSBC Champions (2008 calendar year for the PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

). From this set, each of the six member tours gets a certain number of winners automatically qualified (from 5 to 23). Winners from the 2008 HSBC Champions to 2009 WGC-HSBC Champions (2009 PGA Tour) then qualify (regardless of the actual field strength of the tournament) with players also eligible from each tour's Order of Merit. Co-sanctioned tournaments are assigned to only one tour. The last category is cut when the field reaches 78 players, with the remainder becoming the field alternates.

2009
  1. Winners of the four major championships
    Men's major golf championships
    The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...

     and The Players Championship
    The Players Championship
    The Players Championship is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour.Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, the inaugural event in 1974 was played at Atlanta Country Club in Marietta, Georgia before moving to the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas in 1975 and Inverrary...

  2. Winners of the three World Golf Championships
    World Golf Championships
    The World Golf Championships are a group of four annual events for male professional golfers created by the International Federation of PGA Tours, with a fifth to be added in 2012...

  3. Winners of the top 23 rated PGA Tour
    PGA Tour
    The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

     events (34 events met rating)
  4. Top 5 available players from the FedEx Cup
    FedEx Cup
    The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007 after a NASCAR-like points race. Bill Haas is the current champion...

  5. Winners of the top 23 rated European Tour events (25 events met rating)
  6. Top 5 available players from the Race to Dubai
  7. Nine players – winners of the top Asian Tour
    Asian Tour
    The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. The Asian Tour is administered from offices in Singapore...

     events, remainder from Order of Merit (6 events met rating)
  8. Five players – winners of the top Japan Golf Tour
    Japan Golf Tour
    The Japan Golf Tour is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third highest annual prize fund out of the regular men's professional tours after the PGA Tour and the European Tour. However since the early 1990s, the growth in prize money has not kept pace with...

     events, remainder from Order of Merit (8 events met rating)
  9. Five players – winners of the top Sunshine Tour
    Sunshine Tour
    The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern Africa. For much of its history it was known either as the South African Tour or the FNB Tour, but it rebranded itself in an attempt to broaden its appeal...

     events, remainder from Order of Merit (2 events met rating)
  10. Five players – winners of the top PGA Tour of Australasia
    PGA Tour of Australasia
    The PGA Tour of Australasia is a professional golf tour for men. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ranking points. The tour was formed in 1973 as the PGA Tour of Australia and adopted its current name in 1991....

     events, remainder from Order of Merit (4 events met rating)
  11. Four players from China
  12. Top two available players from the OWGR
  13. Winners of additional tournaments, ordered by field strength (11 from PGA Tour, 2 from European Tour, 3 from Japan Golf Tour)


2010–2011

Same as 2009 except for last two categories. The top 25 on the OWGR were invited in category 12 and the list of additional tournament winners alternated with a list of those ranked after the top 25 in OWGR. (See 2010 WGC-HSBC Champions
2010 WGC-HSBC Champions
The 2010 WGC-HSBC Champions was a golf tournament contested from November 4–7, 2010 at the Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai, China. It was the second WGC-HSBC Champions tournament, and the fourth of four World Golf Championships events held in 2010...

 for detailed field.)

History

Although many players, principally American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

s, who play primarily on the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

 declined invitations to play in 2005, the tournament nevertheless featured several prominent players, including twenty ranked amongst the world's top fifty, and offered a purse
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...

 of US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

5,000,000, greater than that of any other event played in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 or Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

. The large prize fund serves not only to recognize and maintain the collective quality of the participant players but also to encourage other players, especially those from the European Tour, to enter, in furtherance of the Tour's efforts to expand into east
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

 and southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

, of which the Champions event is the most significant manifestation. Before 2008, any prize money
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...

 earned counted toward the Order of Merit standings only on the European Tour inasmuch as the $833,333 first place prize would place a player first overall on any of the other three sanctioning tours, irrespective of his performance across the rest of a season. Starting in 2008, 50% of prize money earned in this event counts toward the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Winners

YearWinnerCountryScoreMargin of
victory
Runner(s)-upCountryRef
WGC-HSBC Champions
2011
2011 WGC-HSBC Champions
The 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions was a golf tournament played from November 3–6, 2011 at the Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai, China. It was the third WGC-HSBC Champions tournament, and the fourth of four World Golf Championships events held in 2011...

 
Martin Kaymer
Martin Kaymer
Martin Kaymer is a German professional golfer. He became the No. 1 ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Rankings on 27 February 2011 after his runner-up finish in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship....

 
268 (−20) 3 strokes Fredrik Jacobson
Fredrik Jacobson
Fredrik Ulf Yngve Jacobson is a Swedish professional golfer.Jacobson was born in Kungsbacka. He turned professional in 1994 and was a member of the European Tour in 1995 and from 1997 to 2004. In 2003 he won his first European Tour title, and went on to claim two more victories that season...

 
2010
2010 WGC-HSBC Champions
The 2010 WGC-HSBC Champions was a golf tournament contested from November 4–7, 2010 at the Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai, China. It was the second WGC-HSBC Champions tournament, and the fourth of four World Golf Championships events held in 2010...

 
Francesco Molinari
Francesco Molinari
Francesco Molinari is an Italian professional golfer. He is a two-time winner on the European Tour and was a member of the 2010 European Ryder Cup team.-Background and amateur career:...

 
269 (−19) 1 stroke Lee Westwood
Lee Westwood
Lee John Westwood OBE is an English professional golfer. Noted for his consistency, Westwood is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on every major continent, including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He was named player of the year for the 1998, 2000, and 2009 seasons...

 
2009
2009 WGC-HSBC Champions
The 2009 WGC-HSBC Champions was a golf tournament that was contested from November 5–8, 2009 at the Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai, China. It was the first WGC-HSBC Champions tournament, and the fourth of four World Golf Championships events held in 2009....

 
Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson
Philip Alfred Mickelson is an American professional golfer. He has won four major championships and a total of 39 events on the PGA Tour. He has reached a career high world ranking of 2nd in multiple years. He is nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed...

 
271 (−17) 1 stroke Ernie Els
Ernie Els
Theodore Ernest "Ernie" Els is a South African professional golfer, who has been one of the top professional players in the world since the mid-1990s. A former World No. 1, he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature along with his fluid, seemingly effortless golf swing...

 
HSBC Champions
2008 Sergio García
Sergio García
Sergio García Fernández is a Spanish professional golfer who plays on both the United States PGA Tour and the European Tour. He has spent much of his career in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings...

 
274 (−14) Playoff
(2nd hole)
Oliver Wilson
Oliver Wilson
Oliver John Wilson is an English professional golfer.Wilson was born in Mansfield, England, where his golfing career began at Coxmoor Golf Club....

 
2007 Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson
Philip Alfred Mickelson is an American professional golfer. He has won four major championships and a total of 39 events on the PGA Tour. He has reached a career high world ranking of 2nd in multiple years. He is nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed...

 
278 (−10) Playoff
(2nd hole)
Ross Fisher
Ross Fisher
Ross Daniel Fisher is an English professional golfer, who plays on the European Tour.Fisher was born in Ascot, Berkshire. His home course is the famous Wentworth Golf Club, Surrey, England, location of the European Tour administrative headquarters. As a child, he attended Charters School, a state...

 
Lee Westwood
Lee Westwood
Lee John Westwood OBE is an English professional golfer. Noted for his consistency, Westwood is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on every major continent, including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He was named player of the year for the 1998, 2000, and 2009 seasons...

 
2006 Yang Yong-eun
Yang Yong-eun
Yang Yong-eun , or Y. E. Yang, is a South Korean professional golfer currently playing on the PGA Tour, where he has won twice, including most notably the 2009 PGA Championship where he held off the challenge of Tiger Woods during the final round....

 
274 (−14) 2 strokes Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

 
Retief Goosen
Retief Goosen
Retief Goosen is a South African professional golfer who has been in the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings for over 250 weeks between 2001 and 2007. His main achievements have been two U.S...

 
2005 David Howell
David Howell (golfer)
David Alexander Howell is an English professional golfer from Swindon. His career to date peaked in 2006, when he was ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for a short time....

 
268 (−20) 3 strokes Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...


External links

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