Past Champions

America’s Xander Schauffele claimed the biggest title of his short career after coming through to beat Tony Finau at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff at the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International in Shanghai. Schauffele, who had a best-of-the-day round of 68 in regulation play, claimed victory at the par-five 18^th with a birdie his friend and countryman was unable to match. It was his first victory since winning twice in his rookie year on the PGA Tour in 2017 and it secured him a first prize of $1.7 million and the coveted Old Tom Morris Trophy.

The Englishman started the final round eight shots off the lead before producing a brilliant run of five birdies on the back nine to take advantage of a stunning collapse from world number one Dustin Johnson and claim the Old Tom Morris Cup. His final score of 14-under 274 was two shots clear of a strong chasing pack which included Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. Justin’s WGC-HSBC Champions victory was the third-biggest final round comeback in PGA Tour history, his eighth career PGA Tour win, second World Golf Championship trophy and lifted him to sixth in the world.

Hideki Matsuyama never gave anyone a chance on Sunday, closing with a 6-under 66 for a seven-shot victory that made him the first Asian to win a World Golf Championships event since the series began in 1999.Matsuyama finished at 23-under 265, one short of the tournament record that Dustin Johnson set three years ago.His victory margin of seven shots is the largest in tournament history,and the largest in a WGC since Tiger Woods won by seven in the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Russell Knox, who started out as a seventh alternate for the WGC-HSBC Champions 2015, beat all odds to win the 11th edition of the tournament by two stroke margin over a star-studded field which included the likes of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler. His decision to finish off round 3 on Sunday due to low visibility was one of the title deciders as he birdied the 18th on the following day, which set him off for a 4-under-par final round to become the first Scott to win the tournament.

The WGC-HSBC Champions celebrated a magnificent 10th anniversary in 2014 and Two-time Masters Champion Bubba Watson sent the spectators reeling when he holed his bunker shot at the 18th for his eagle at the 72nd; and he prompted much the same effect again when he holed a 25-foot birdie putt at the first extra hole to defeat South Africa’s Tim Clark and win what was his first WGC-HSBC Champions.

The WGC-HSBC Champions returned to Sheshan Golf Club in 2013 and was won by American Dustin Johnson, after a tough final day battle with defending champion and runner-up Ian Poulter. Johnson entered the final day with a three shot lead, but it was gone inside two holes as he three-putted and Poulter began with two birdies. However he showed tremendous fortitude to grapple back the lead and par the 18th to shoot a final round 66 and win the title by three strokes. Johnson’s final total, a 24-under-par 264, was the lowest winning score ever carded at the HSBC Champions.

2012 saw the WGC-HSBC Champions move away from Sheshan for the first time, to Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen. Ian Poulter won the title by two strokes, beating runners-up Jason Dufner, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Scott Piercy. Poulter trailed by nine shots after the first two days, but closed very strongly with two rounds of 65, giving him a 21-under-par total of 267. That score proved enough to secure Poulter his second WGC in three years, following his victory at the World Match Play.

The 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan was won by Martin Kaymer by a three strokes. Kaymer played excellently all week but produced a stunning final round, birdying nine of the last twelve holes to card a round of 63 – equalling the course record. In doing so he overtook the long-time tournament leader, Freddie Jacobson of Sweden, on the back 9. Kaymer finished 20-under par for the tournament.

Francisco Molinari won the 2010 WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan by one stroke, holding off a tenacious challenge from world number one Lee Westwood. Molinari shot a round of 65 on day one to Westwood’s 66 and from then on the two left the field behind and shot identical rounds on the remaining 3 days for Molinari to win at 19-under par for the tournament, picking up the biggest win of his career to date.  Third place finished a further 9 shots off the pace.

The HSBC Champions became a WGC event in 2009 and Phil Mickelson claimed his second win at Sheshan Golf Club by a one stroke margin ahead of runner-up Ernie Els. In a dramatic fourth round Els shot a remarkable nine-under-par 63, matching the course record, to put himself into contention for the title. However it proved too little too late, as Mickelson’s three-under 69, and 17-under par total for the tournament, was just enough to secure him his second HSBC Champions title.

The 2008 HSBC Champions at Sheshan Golf Club was won by Sergio Garcia in a playoff against England’s Oliver Wilson, with both players having finished regulation play at fourteen-under-par. Garcia twice birdied the par-five eighteenth on the final day, once to force the playoff by holing a five foot putt, and once again to win the playoff sinking a seven foot putt after Wilson had just missed from ten.

Phil Mickelson won the first of his two HSBC Champions in 2007 at Sheshan Golf Club, coming through a three-way playoff with Englishmen Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood, having finished the 72^nd hole tied on a ten-under-par score of 278. On a bizarre final day Mickelson overcame six penalty strokes, blew a three-shot lead with seven to play and still came out victorious, birdying the second playoff hole to win the title.

The 2006 HSBC Champions, again held at Sheshan, was won by South Korean Yang Yong-Eun by 2 strokes. As in the previous year, Tiger Woods was near the top of the leaderboard and was looking to win his seventh consecutive strokeplay event, but he was once again resigned to second place by another stunning performance by a relative rookie. A three-under-par final round of 69, and a fourteen-under-par total of 274, handed Yang one of the biggest wins of his career.

In 2005 David Howell won the inaugural HSBC Champions at Sheshan Golf Club by three strokes. Entering the final day with a one stroke lead, he held off world number one, Tiger Woods, in a thrilling head-to-head dual, firing a four-under-par final round of 68, to Woods’ final round of 70. He ended the week with a superb twenty-under-par total of 268, completing one of golf’s great David v Goliath stories.