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Elite to slug it out in WGC-HSBC

By Ma Zhenhuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-25 10:02

SHANGHAI: South Korea's Yang Yong-eun, Asia's first male winner of a major golf championship, and five of the world's top 10 golfers will join world No.1 Tiger Woods and defending champion Sergio Garcia at the World Golf Championship (WGC)-HSBC event, guaranteeing the greatest field ever assembled in this continent.

Tiger Woods of the U.S. walks on the eighth green as Yang Yong-eun of South Korea lines up a putt during the final round of the 2009 PGA Championship golf tournament at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota August 16, 2009.[Agencies]

World No 2 Phil Mickelson, a winner in Shanghai in 2007, leads the list of recent entrants and, with the addition of Australia's world No 8 Geoff Ogilvy, all of this year's WGC winners will be competing for the fourth and final event in the series in November, the event's organizers announced yesterday.

Yang, who chased down Woods to win the US PGA Championship at the Hazeltine National Country Club on Aug 16, should share the spotlight with Woods in Shanghai as that is where he beat the American three years ago to win the HSBC Championship.

Paul Casey, Henrik Stenson, Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington, ranked 3rd, 5th ,10th and 11th respectively, have also added their names to those challenging for the newly-increased prize fund of $7 million at Shanghai's Sheshan International Golf Club from Nov 5-8.

This year's event, the first WGC event in Asia, has also changed the world golfing calendar dramatically as previously the PGA Tour players tended to wind down after the PGA Championship but now the HSBC Championship is shaping up to be the season's climax.

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"I think what China has done and what I think it will continue to do for golf has been phenomenal," said Woods in a video interview.

"I have played there for a few years now and I absolutely love it. I love going there and can't wait to get back there and play," he said.

With golf taking a big step forward towards joining the 2016 Summer Olympics, China's hosting of a WGC event will help drive the development of the sport.

"Golf's likely nod from the IOC (International Olympic Committee) fully demonstrates that it remains a quite healthy and charming sport worldwide and we believe the upgrade of the HSBC Championship to a WGC event will lure more Chinese participation, especially the young generation, to the world of golf," said , Zhang Xiaoning, vice-president of the China Golf Association.