This link with China has been extended to the WGC-HSBC Champions, which was completed earlier this month and which Rolex features as an official sponsor.
The tournament started life in 2005 when England’s David Howell held off the challenge of Tiger Woods at Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai, the venue for all but one of the tournaments, to be crowned the inaugural champion. The following year, Korea’s YE Yang, who would later become the first Asian winner of a major championship, emerged victorious (again with Woods in the field) with a brilliant display of putting. 2007 saw Phil Mickelson – a frequent visitor to the tournament – claim the title for the first time, while Spain’s Sergio Garcia held his nerve 12 months later for success.
Mickelson became the first two-time winner of the championship in 2009, the first year the event was accorded World Golf Championship status, after being pushed all the way by Ernie Els, while Italy’s Francesco Molinari picked up the biggest cheque of his career with a gutsy win in 2010. The last two tournaments have been no less thrilling, with Martin Kaymer showing the kind of form that earned him the US PGA Championship in his 2011 victory, while colourful Englishman Ian Poulter, the hero of the European team’s Ryder Cup success of 2012, put on a fantastic display to win the title at Mission Hills 12 months ago.
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