After a week when Tiger Woods equalled the record for most PGA Tour wins and Steven Brown won his first professional title the WGC-HSBC Champions has a lot to live up to. This is the last chance before the turn of the year for the Americans to gain Ryder Cup points and with a hefty prize fund available there’s a stellar field in China. Let’s take a look at some of the details before we get to my WGC-HSBC Champions betting tips…
The details
Venue: Sheshan International Golf Club, Songjiang, China
Date: October 31-November 3, 2019
Course stats: Par 72; 7,266 yards
Course summary: Having been repeatedly toughened in recent years the bad shots will be punished. There’s tough rough and bunkers aplenty as well as water coming into play on 11 of the 18. Greens in Regulation could be a key stat as run-off areas could be troublesome for those missing regularly. There is still and advantage on some holes for the longer hitters so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see plenty of par-5 eagles.
Purse: $10.25 million
Defending champion: Xander Schauffele (-14, beat Tony Finau in a play-off)
TV coverage
Thursday: 2am (Sky Sports Golf and Main event)
Friday: 2am (Sky Sports Golf), 5am (Sky Sports Main Event)
Saturday: 2.30am (Sky Sports Golf and Main Event)
Sunday: 2.30am (Sky Sports Golf), 5am (Sky Sports Main Event)
WGC-HSBC Champions betting tips: Players to watch
Defending champion Xander Schauffele (14/1 with bet365) carded a final round of 4-under last year to force a play-off.
Now refreshed after a break, the American returned to action at the Zozo Championship where he recorded a top 10.
He looked fresh and focused hitting 73% of greens in Japan – a productive warm-up for his defence.
Justin Rose (16/1) has an exceptional record at this event, including a victory and four top-10 finishes in his last five starts.
This sort of layout seems to suit his game and with a chance to move as high as 4th in the world rankings, there could be formula for a big week here.
Rose has been in good form since the Tour Championship, with an 8th at Wentworth, T34 at the Dunhill Links and a T15 in Italy before a break to recharge.
It seems like Ian Poulter (60/1) is regularly overpricedand his record here is good enough for me to be taking an each-way punt.
Poulter played here three times successively between 2013 and 2015 and finished inside the top-10 twice.
Having missed a couple of years he returned last year and took solo 21st so I’m hoping that with a more recent visit in memory he will be able to rekindle his earlier form.
He’s tied for 16th and 13th in the opening two events of the PGA Tour’s Asian swing so he’s clearly enjoying his golf and there’s definitely each-way value in his price.
The Jordan Spieth (35/1) conundrum continues to roll on but this week we could see another big finish from the American.
Spieth’s inconsistency has been staggering and I think this actually works in our favour this week.
His short game looked solid in his first start of the season at the CJ Cup and it helped him to a tie for 8th. And though that didn’t last with a T66 in Japan, this is a layout where he has played well previously, with a T7 in his last start here back in 2015.
An each-way return could be on the cards.
Finally, how is Bubba Watson (90/1) at that price?
He had a top 10 in 2013 before winning here a year later, and he looks to be enjoying his time in Asia as that tee shot in Japan proved.
For the latest prices, visit bet365.
