Four players vying for world number one title at HSBC Champions
The event
The HSBC Champions will be played this week, 4-7 November, at the Sheshan International Golf Course in Shanghai, China. Under normal circumstances this event would be like any other important golfing event but these are not normal circumstances.
This week marks the first time since 1997 that four players go into an event with the chance of becoming the world number one. The players with the chance to strip Westwood of a short-lived world number one title are Martin Kaymer, Phil Michelson and of
course Tiger Woods.
Woods lost his title to Westwood in an anti-climatic scenario last week when the points were re-evaluated at the end of the month and Westwood came out on top by a very narrow margin.
What the “big four” are saying
The 37-year-old Englishman spoke of the new gained title at a promotion for this week’s event, saying, "it's an honour in itself, to be the one who ended Tiger's five years as the top golfer on the planet and of course we all know him well enough to know
he'll respond."
Woods goes into this event looking for that elusive win that has escaped him so far this year.
"As in every event I play, I'm here trying to win. If ever there was an event that deserved to be the first Asian tournament to impact the top of the world rankings this is the one. I've referred to it before as the crowning jewel of Asian golf," said Woods
at the promotion.
Also at the promotion for the tournament were Kaymer and Mickelson, who had a few words to say on the difficulty of winning the number one spot at this particular tournament. "There are very, very few events each year that have the strength-in-depth of the
HSBC Champions. Every player in the field has the talent and the experience to win; it's a field of winners," said the 40-year-old American.
The prospects
Mickelson enters the event with one win on the PGA Tour coming all the way back in April at the Masters. In 20 events played he has finished in the top-10 only six times. Mickelson’s last professional individual event was the Tour Championship in September
where he struggled throughout the week finishing tied for 22nd in a 30 man field. The advantage that Mickelson has going into this week’s event is that he is defending champion.
Kaymer had an opportunity to capture the top spot in the world at the Andalucia Masters but fell short, finishing tied for 21st. Apart from that mediocre performance, Kaymer has been playing very well of late. He has won three of his last four professional
events played in.
Woods, like Mickelson, has not played in a professional event since the Ryder Cup where he had a very strong showing in the singles match. On the final day of the Cup Woods defeated Italy’s Francesco Molinari four-up with three holes to play. He has said
recently that the changes he has made to his swing under the guidance of swing-coach Sean Foley have gone smoothly.
Finally, Westwood returns to professional golf this week after a break to nurse nagging calf injury. Westwood has only played in one event since early August.
He spoke to reporters at Tuesday’s promotion assuring them that he will focus on “that old golf adage of concentrating on one shot at a time, rather than getting distracted by what may or may not happen afterwards."
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