The 2011 HSBC Champions is gathering one of the most international fields ever assembled at a World Golf Championships with 18 nations already represented for the event at the Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai, from November 3 – 6 2011.
Ernie Els is the latest entry of a six-strong South African contingent which includes Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel, while those who have already booked their place in the tournament known as Asia’s Major include World Number One and Two Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, US Open Champion Rory McIlroy, Open Champion Darren Clarke, defending champion Francesco Molinari and this year’s three WGC winners Luke Donald, Nick Watney and Adam Scott.
Bill Haas, winner of the Tour Championship and FedExCup, is the latest of 14 American players to confirm his place in the 78-man field.
The field is by no means complete with the cut-off date of October 17 the focus for several key qualifying categories. Those players not otherwise qualified will be setting their sights on winning their place through owning a ranking within top 25 of the Official World Golf Ranking or as one of the top five ranked players not otherwise exempt in The Race to Dubai come October 17. The winners of this week’s Portugal Masters and the upcoming Andalucía Masters will also seal their spot in this elite tournament.
HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship, Giles Morgan, said: “We are witnessing a real changing of the guard at the top of world golf’s leaderboard and the international nature of the field absolutely reflects this. Golf has truly become a global game and the WGC-HSBC Champions is shaping up to be a fitting climax to what has been a momentous year for the sport with first time winners at all the Majors and WGC events.
"It would take a brave man to make any predictions about this year’s WGC-HSBC Champions but it’s going to be great fun watching things unfurl as Asia continues to cement its place at golf’s top table.”
Robbie Henchman, Co-Managing Director of IMG Golf, the tournament promoters, added: “The field is shaping up to be one of the strongest and most international fields ever seen in Asia and it is going to be very interesting to see which players seal the final qualifying places.
"Everything is in place at Sheshan to receive the world’s best players and there is every indication that this seventh edition of the WGC-HSBC Champions will be the best yet.”
The WGC-HSBC Champions is one of four World Golf Championships sanctioned and organised by the operational committee of the International Federation of PGA Tours, which includes the Asian Tour, The European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, US PGA Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour. The other World Golf Championships are the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the WGC-Cadillac Championship and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
The 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions boasts a prize fund of US$7 million. For ticket information, regular field updates, the full qualifying criteria and more information, please visitwww.hsbcgolf.com.
