THE now regular annual visit to Shanghai’s Sheshan International Golf Club for the HSBC Champions tournament is a bit of an oddity, counting as both the final World Golf Championship of 2019 and also the first of the European Tour’s end-of-season events.
The former means that the field is strong (if not absolutely tip-top), whilst the latter allows those at the head of the Race to Dubai the chance to strengthen their positions.
The 21-year-old Korean is certainly making a name for himself in America, winning twice on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2018 and then claiming the PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year title in 2018/19. Nor did he waste any time getting this season underway in style, only losing the Sandersons Farms Championship after a play-off and then claiming the Korean Tour’s Genesis Championship. Seven days later he played the PGA Tour’s event on Jeju Island, his birthplace, and the pressure told, but he bounced back in Japan last week, shooting closing rounds of 64-67-65 to grab tied third.
After that effort he was bullish, not only about his WGC debut, but also his chances of impressing his potential Presidents Cup captain Ernie Els. “I really feel great,” he said. “I’m very excited about travelling to China. It’s my first start there and the captain’s pick will be decided afterwards. I want to perform great so I can make the team.” Last season he racked up 16 top 25 finishes, six of which were top ten. In his last five starts he has a first, a second and a third. He’s definitely a golfer going places and he’s also hungry.
In the last couple of weeks the Englishman has started to build some promising form, helped by a third round 66 in the CJ Cup on his way to T16th and a 64-66 finish in the Zozo Championship for T13th. In many ways we shouldn’t be surprised because this is a man who regularly churns out quality finishes when the leaves start to fall from the trees. In fact, he has 52 top 20s from just 90 starts in the final three months of the year, including six wins. There’s sure to be an element of fooled-by-randomness about this trend, but he’s also a driven man, not given to idling when others might.
He’s also very fond of playing golf in China, finishing second in the World Cup alongside Justin Rose whilst, on his own, reaping 14 top 20s in 24 starts including a win in the Hong Kong Open, victory in this tournament at Mission Hills and also second here at Sheshan in 2013. That latter effort is one of six top 20s in his 11 starts at the course. Improving form, excellent course vibes and neat WGC results this year, too – he was third in Mexico and eighth in Memphis.
Sheshan GC looking immaculate – and colourful ! – for the #HSBCChampions. @EuropeanTour pic.twitter.com/Eag1XKuaJ0
— Dougie Donnelly (@dougiedonnelly) October 30, 2019
Exactly 13 years ago, when this tournament was not yet a WGC event, but simply an elite field tournament co-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tours, something of a coup was landed when Y.E. Yang won it off the back of some excellent form on the Japanese Tour. An exact replica of that effort might be asking too much, but this Korean-American definitely has a good week in him sooner or later at this level.
The 29-year-old has collected the air miles in his attempts to make it in the sport, playing the Canadian, Challenge and Asian Tours before finding his feet in Japan. He won there three times in 2017 and proved he can compete with elite opposition when T11th in the Open at Royal Birkdale. Injuries followed, but he’s got back on track this season, making six top fours before a final round 67 that turned an eight-shot deficit into a one-shot victory at the Japan Open. One week on from that he was T41st in the Zozo Championship and now he returns to Sheshan. At first glance his T58th two years ago is unimpressive, but it was all down to a terrible final round 80. Before than he spent the week inside the top 25.
