Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy will kick off his bid for a third World Golf Championships title alongside Americans Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson when play gets under way at the WGC-HSBC Champions on Thursday morning.
Playing in the final group out in the first round at Sheshan International Golf Club from 1045 local time, World Number Three McIlroy – already a winner in the 2014 Bridgestone Invitational and 2015 Cadillac Match Play – is in Shanghai looking to add the HSBC Champions this week and complete a hat-trick of WGC victories.
But in playing partners and Ryder Cup foes Fowler and Johnson, the former the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open winner and the latter a two-time WGC winner, the Northern Irishman is going head-to-head with a couple of serious contenders for the title.
Elsewhere, also at Sheshan looking for back-to-back WGC wins is Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who brilliantly prevailed in the Bridgestone Invitational back in August for the biggest win of his career to date.
Lowry tees it up in a high-profile threeball from 0935 alongside a pair of former Major winners in 2010 Open victor Louis Oosthuizen and 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott.
After securing his first WGC win here 12 months ago, American Bubba Watson returns to Sheshan looking to become the first player to win the event in consecutive years with the Floridian teeing it up from 0945 with World Number One Jordan Spieth and former European Number One Henrik Stenson.
Also returning to the Shanghai venue with winning memories to fall back on is 2011 HSBC Champion Martin Kaymer and the German kicks off his campaign at 1025 with England’s Paul Casey and South African’s Branden Grace – twice a winner already in the 2015 season.
Seeking to close the gap on McIlroy at the top of The Race to Dubai, long-time number two Danny Willett tees off at 0925 with American’s Kevin Na and Justin Thomas – winner last week in the CIMB Classic on the US PGA Tour – while two-time 2015 winner Thomas Pieters gets play under way with the first tee shot of the day at 0850 alongside Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira and England’s James Morrison.
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