This announcement will be well received by the world's best players who have enjoyed the immaculately prepared, challenging championship course at Sheshan since the inaugural tournament in November 2005 and all that the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai has to offer.
Two-time champion and winner of four majors Phil Mickelson said, "This is great news and will be a very popular decision among the players. The Sheshan International Club has done a tremendous job of welcoming us to China and ensuring the course is always in excellent condition. It's a challenging yet fair layout that has been a great host to Asia's only WGC event and with one of the world's top fields, I'm sure that once again we'll have an excellent and exciting WGC-HSBC leaderboard on Sunday."
Richard Cheung, Chairman of Shanghai Sheshan International Golf Club added, "We are delighted to confirm today that we will be hosting the 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions. This will be our seventh consecutive year as host of this world-class championship and we are very proud that our club and course are so well received by so many of the world's best players. As always, we are working hard to ensure everything is perfect for the arrival of the golfers at the start of November."
Giles Morgan, Group Head of Sponsorship at HSBC, added, "Sheshan has become synonymous with the HSBC Champions and some of the holes, like the short par-four 16th and the dramatic lakeside 18th, are beginning to gain the kind of fame with golf fans that we believe will one day make them as world-renowned as legends in the game like The Road Hole and Amen Corner. Of course, the venue is very important to the players but as a title sponsor, it is important that it can also deliver the right quality and service to our guests and clients. Over the past six years, the Sheshan International Golf Club has done an absolutely wonderful job in hosting HSBC staff and customers, the players as well as providing a wonderful showcase for Shanghai."
Robbie Henchman, MD IMG Golf concluded, "Sheshan International Club has proved an exceedingly popular venue and we are very happy to announce today that we will be returning there for yet another enthralling edition of the WGC-HSBC Champions this November. Everything from the course to the clubhouse facilities are of the highest quality and provide a fantastic stage for the world's best players to do battle for this coveted title."
The HSBC Champions is one of four World Golf Championships sanctioned and organized by the operational committee of the International Federation of PGA Tours, which includes the Asian Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA TOUR, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour. The other World Golf Championships include the Accenture Match Play Championship, Cadillac Championship and the Bridgestone Invitational.
The 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions boasts a prize fund of $7,000,000. For regular field updates, the full qualifying criteria and more information, please visit www.hsbcgolf.com.
Media enquiries:
HSBC
Group Head of Sponsorship
Giles Morgan
+ 44 (0) 207 992 5342
H&K
HSBC Golf Press Office
Tim Maitland
David Zhao
+ 852 2894 6295
+ 86 21 5109 7070 x110
IMG
PR Manager
Michele Mair
+ 44 (0) 20 8233 5177
PGA TOUR
Senior Director of Communications
Laura Hill
+1 904 273 7655
About HSBC
HSBC provides a comprehensive range of financial services to around 95 million customers through two customer groups, Personal Financial Services (including consumer finance) and Commercial Banking, and two global businesses, Global Banking and Markets and Private Banking.
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from around 7,500 offices in 87 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of USD2,455 billion at 31 December 2010, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the world's local bank'.
About HSBC Golf Sponsorships
HSBC's global commitment to golf not only spans all corners of the world but also supports the sport at all levels, from grassroots to elite. In addition to its flagship WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai and HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore, HSBC has expanded its portfolio to include both the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and, as golf returns to the Olympic Games for Rio 2016, the HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup, the nation's one truly global golf event.
However, underpinning those blue riband events is a longer-term goal to create the legacy of HSBC's global tournaments through its sponsorship of youth development and grassroots programmes. The world's local bank is supporting the HSBC China Junior Golf Program - a sustainable long-term structure and framework upon which the future of Chinese golf is being built. This includes the HSBC-sponsored China National Junior Team, the HSBC China Junior Open and the HSBC National Junior Golf Championship; a year-long series of tournaments designed to give China's elite junior golfers the competitive platform they need to develop their game.
In Asia HSBC has spearheaded the arrival of world class golf events and the HSBC Champions is the continent's first World Golf Championships event and the region's leading men's tournament. Last year world number one Tiger Woods described it as "The crowning jewel of all of Asian golf." Since its inception in 2005 the event has attracted world-class fields. Three-time Major champion Padraig Harrington revealed that he believed creating the HSBC Champions was "a turning point for Asian golf".
For more details on HSBC's golf activities, visit www.hsbcgolf.com
About IMG
IMG Worldwide is a global sports, entertainment and media business, with nearly 3,000 employees operating in 30 countries around the globe. IMG's areas of expertise are diverse and wide ranging: IMG College is the leader in collegiate marketing, licensing and media rights. IMG's Joint Ventures, IMG Reliance, IMX and IMG CCTV, in the emerging markets of India, Brazil and China, offer the company significant long-term growth opportunities. IMG Media is the world's largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming. IMG Events and Federations owns and manages some of the most sought after events and includes long standing associations with the world's most important sports organizations, leagues, and federations. IMG Fashion owns and operates fashion events around the world and IMG Models represents the world's top models and leading designers and IMG Art+Commerce represents the most influential photographers, art directors and stylists. For the past 50 years IMG Clients has been the global leader in talent representation, including over 1,000 elite athletes, coaches, industry executives and prestigious sports organizations across the sports, entertainment, fashion and media industries. IMG Academies is the world's largest and most advanced multi-sport training and educational facility delivering sports training experiences to more than 12,000 dedicated athletes from approximately 80 countries every year. IMG Consulting connects many of the world's leading brands with consumers through access to unique sports and entertainment properties. IMG Licensing is considered one of the premier independent licensing companies in the sports, entertainment and media world. More information is available at www.imgworld.com.
World Golf Championships/International Federation of PGA Tours
The International Federation of PGA Tours was formed in 1996 by golf's five world governing bodies - the European Tour, Japan Golf Tour Organization, PGA TOUR, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour (South Africa) with the purpose of providing a forum for the world's professional golf organizations to discuss issues of mutual importance and, together, develop and promote the game of golf on a global basis. The Asian Tour joined the Federation in November 1999. As part of its mission, the Federation initiated the World Golf Championships in 1999. The Federation was expanded in June 2009 and now includes the Asian Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA TOUR, PGA Tour of Australasia, Sunshine Tour, China Golf Association, Korea Professional Golf Tour Corp., Professional Golf Tour of India, LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour, Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour, Japan LPGA, Korean LPGA and the Ladies Asian Golf Tour.
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