Get ready for what’s arguably the first grand golf tournament of the 2016-17 PGA Tour Season: the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
Most of the world’s best golfers will partake in this week’s event, which means there’ll be plenty of viable options to choose from for your golf-betting needs. Get to know more about the names worth keeping tabs on at the Sheshan Golf Club below.
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2016 WGC-HSBC Champions Preview
Where: Sheshan Golf Club, Shanghai, China
When: October 27-30
Line: view all 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions lines
TV Broadcast: Golf Channel
Favorites
Rory McIlroy
The reigning FedEx Cup champion returns to the greens for the first time this season as Rory McIlroy aims to keep his sizzling streak going. The decorated Irishman has won two of the last three PGA Tour tournaments, further strengthening his case to reclaim the top spot of the Official World Golf Rankings.
And while McIlroy has yet to win at Sheshan in five career trips, his track record there is still no laughing matter. He’s finished no worst than 11th place at the tournament, with his best result being a couple of fourth-place finishes.
Dustin Johnson
Not one to be outdone by McIlroy’s hot form, Dustin Johnson has just as good a claim to the top spot of the OWGR as we speak. The World No. 2 came close to beating out Rory for the FedExCup championship, and he also won at the BMW Championship last month to give him great momentum overall heading into Shanghai.
Although Johnson has only played in Sheshan twice, his results from both of his appearances are simply stunning. He won it all back in 2013 and finished tied for fifth last year, boasting a sweet scoring average of 66.89 in his last nine rounds there.
Sleepers
Paul Casey
When it comes to the WGC-HSBC Champions, Paul Casey is as consistent and determined as they come. He has six top-15 finishes at Sheshan over the past 10 years and has finished no worse than 23rd-place at that.
Apart from being a constant threat over in the Far East, Casey’s come out strong to kick-start his 2016-17 campaign as well. The Gloucestershire native began with a T2 finish at the Safeway Open earlier this month, then followed that up with a T21 at the recently-concluded CIMB Classic.
Justin Thomas
Maybe it’s about time that we start taking Justin Thomas seriously. He’d always been on the bubble of becoming an elite golfer, but now he has a win from last week’s CIMB Classic along with a T8 finish at Napa the prior week to boost his credentials and confidence.
What’s keeping the 23-year-old from being listed as a favorite this week is that he’s only made one appearance at Sheshan, which was a ho-hum T27 finish of a debut last year. Given his outstanding couple of outings in this young season, though, we might very well find Thomas as a force to be reckoned with the rest of the way, especially if he comes away with a victory in Shanghai this week.
Long Shot
Branden Grace
Give credit to Branden Grace for giving his all the last time he was at Sheshan, wherein he finished tied for fifth in the tournament. The South African even has a pair of top-five finishes in major tournaments last season, which included a career-best T4 finish at the PGA Championship.
However, after that fantastic showing at Baltusrol in July, Grace has cooled off significantly. He has failed to secure a top-30 finish in five tournaments since, including having been cut from the two tournaments he joined in August. With that being said, expectations for him should definitely be tempered this week in Shanghai.
Writer’s Prediction
Johnson emerges triumphant for his first win of the season.
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