Bubba Watson Wins the 2014 WGC-HSBC Champions

After a final round that saw several players come within a shot of the lead over the last few holes, the 2014 HSBC Champions at Sheshan Golf Club (Shanghai) is now over and the winner this year is Bubba Watson, after a one hole playoff battle between South African Tim Clark and himself. The two of them finished the tournament at 11-under (-11) but on their first playoff hole, a birdie by Watson and a par by Clark decided it. With this win, Bubba now moves up to 7th on the World Golf Rankings. He would of taken home valuable European Tour playoff points as well, had he been a member of the European Tour.

Things weren't looking good for Bubba after going bogey, double bogey on the 16th and 17th holes. On the 18th hole, he found himself in a bunker on the par 5, about 60 yards away from the green, going for eagle. He hit his sand shot and watched in land on the green and roll into the hole, catapulting him back into the tournament by putting him at 11-under, much to everyone's surprise.

It was really anyone's tournament up until the last few holes. With Bubba and Clark both in earlier at 11-under, the last hole saw chances by Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer, and Hiroshi Iwata to join this playoff (I thought for sure one of my picks would win it!). Both GMac and Iwata had birdie putts that would have done just that, but both missed. Sunday got the best of McDowell again as he unfortunately finished over par once again, despite holding the lead going into the weekend. For Iwata, a win this week would have been huge for his career, as a WGC win makes a player eligible for a variety of things such as tour cards and major eligibility.

On the other hand, Kaymer's tournament finished abruptly on the par 5 18th hole. After laying up, Kaymer hit a good shot that landed right of the green and unfortunately rolled into the water, ending his chances at a playoff.

Oddly enough, McDowell and Kaymer still benefited points-wise from the tournament. McDowell finished T3 but all of the players ahead of and tied with him are not European Tour members, thus the Race to Dubai playoff points they won mean nothing. So in the end, GMac ends up winning the most points at the end of the week, which is a big bonus with only two more events to go. Kaymer finishing T6 takes home the second most points, along with the people he is tied with. GMac and Kaymer are now ranked 9th and 10th in the Race to Dubai points list, respectively.

Finally, here is how our picks finished the tournament:

1) Graeme McDowell: T3 at 10-under (-10)
2) Martin Kaymer: T6 at 8-under (-8)
3) Adam Scott: T12 at 5-under (-5)

Good finishes all round, however one again GMac comes up short at this tournament. I think he'll win a WGC soon enough though.

Next week is the second last European Tour playoff event, the Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya, Turkey, so stay tuned for our coverage of that.

-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Bubba holes out for eagle on the 18th hole at the 2014 HSBC Champions

Graeme McDowell Leads Going Into The Weekend At The HSBC Champions

We're halfway through the rounds of the 2014 HSBC Champions (with the third round set to start shortly due to the time difference) at Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai and one of our picks (and TGR favourite) Graeme McDowell leads going into the weekend with a score of 10-under and a three shot lead over Ian Poulter.

The Northern Irishman started his week of with a pair of 67's and had a combined total of twelve birdies through those rounds. Gmac seems to be playing very good golf in the past few weeks. While it's still too early to say, a win for GMac this week could prove helpful in the last few weeks of the European Tour Playoffs. He leads ahead of Ian Poulter who birdied four out of his last five holes to gain second place.

Sheshan was slightly vulnerable in the first few rounds, with good scores being shot all around. The low round of the week so far was shot by Japanese golfer Hiroshi Iwata, with a 7-under 63. Some players were not so lucky in their opening rounds, such as another TGR favourite Miguel Angel Jimenez, who shot a 78 in his opening round.

Even more unlucky was Australian Brody Ninyette, who shot a 86 90 and is in last place with a score of 32-over (+32). Brody battled through stomach issues before and during his rounds. The main reason he continued to play though was the guarenteed $40,000 he would get; since this even has no cut, all players get a paycheck. However a scorecard signing error resulted in Brody being disqualified. Ninyette's second round score of 90 was a tournament record and beat the old one by six shots.

Also in the news was Patrick Reed, who during his opening round muttered homophobic remarks to himself that were caught by Tv microphones, after three-putting the 10th hole. He has since apologized via Twitter.


Finally here is how our picks are doing so far:

1) Graeme McDowell: 1st at 10-under (-10)
2) Martin Kaymer: T11 at 3-under (-3)
3) Adam Scott: T15 at 2-under (-3)

Good results all over the board. I would personally like to see Adam Scott win another tournament before the year ends.

Stay tuned for our Sunday post on who won the tournament,


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Can GMac hold onto his three shot lead and win the HSBC Champions?

2014 WGC HSBC Champions Picks

The second event of the European Tour Playoffs and last WGC event of the year has begun, we are of course talking about the WGC HSBC Champions, being played at Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai, China. This week, we'll be seeing 79 of the top players from all parts of the globe playing for valuable WGC points as well as points for other merits.

The HSBC Champions is probably one of the most prestigeous tournaments of the entire season, mainly because of what's needed to get an invite. Invitations are sent out to basically players who have won top-ranked tournaments on their respective tours and anyone in the Top 50 of the WGC. The Top-15 on the European Tour Race to Dubai Ranking as well the Top-5 players from the previous FedEx Cup also get an invite. Due to this, the field is full of the world's best golfers; you're pretty much getting the best of the best in this tournament. It's for this reason that I think it's one of the best stroke play tournaments of the year; it really shows how global the game of golf is too.

The tournament returns to Sheshan Golf Club again this year, after being played in 2012 at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China. Sheshan has hosted the HSBC Champions ever since the tournament was created.The course is also known for it's lengthly par-3's as well as it's 8th hole, a 603-yard par 5.

As I mentioned before, given the immense depth of players in the field this week, it was hard to choose three picks to win. Ultimately here is who I ended up choosing:

1) Graeme McDowell
2) Martin Kaymer
3) Adam Scott

Stay tuned for our Friday post to see who's leading going into the weekend,


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews