Luke Donald hopes to be trading in birdies this week after a visit to HSBC’s Hong Kong offices and the local stock exchange ahead of the final World Golf Championships event of the year in China.
The World Number Three spent time on the Hong Kong stock exchange floor, and is now looking to swap eighth place on The Race to Dubai for a higher position with a good performance in the WGC-HSBC Champions.
“I had a couple days in Hong Kong and enjoyed the city very much,” said last year’s European Number One. “I had a walk around, got to see some of the shops and the sights.
“It was a fun day visiting HSBC, their main offices there, getting to see and walk along the exchange floor and see what goes on behind the scenes - it was a fun afternoon.”
The 34 year old was third at last week’s BMW Masters, and believes Mission Hills offers a good chance for a first victory since he successfully defended his BMW PGA Championship crown at Wentworth.
“It was nice to put in four pretty solid rounds last week,” he added, “come in here, looking to improve a couple spots if possible.
“It's getting close to the end of the year and The Race to Dubai, and this is a big event with a strong field and looking forward to bringing some of that form from last week to this week.
“This is obviously a big event for golf, a big event in China and Asia, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Donald has not yet given up hope of catching Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy, but admits closing a gap of more than €1,600,000 represents a tall order.
“Rory is making it tough on us,” he said. “He's playing very consistently every week. He's won some big events that count on both tours; and hence, he's in a very similar position to that I was last year where he has a chance to win both money titles.
“He's got a pretty big lead. I'm going to need to pretty much win out. I'm going to need to win this event and win Dubai for any chance. I haven't even looked mathematically if it's even possible, but I think it would be; but again, it's going to take for me to probably win both events to have a chance.”
