SHANGHAI -- Here is a look at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions leaderboard through 36 holes and where each player is currently ranked in the Official World Golf Ranking.
|
Of the four past winners of the HSBC Champions, Y.E. Yang was the lowest ranked the week before winning this event:
|
Sergio Garcia is the youngest winner in HSBC Champions history at the age of 28 years, 10 months, 1 day. Of the players currently in the top 10, Nick Watney (age 28/6/14 on Sunday); Ryan Moore (age 26/11/3 on Sunday); Anthony Kim (age 24/4/20 on Sunday); Camilo Villegas (age 27/10/1 on Sunday); and Ryo Ishikawa (age 18/1/22 on Sunday) have a chance to establish a new record should they go on to win this week.
After a 1-under 35 on the front nine, Tiger Woods played his last 11 holes in 4 under to post a 6-under 67 and move into a tie for the lead with Nick Watney. Woods is a six-time winner on the PGA TOUR in 2009 and is making his third appearance at the HSBC Champions, but the first since 2006. He finished as runner up in both appearances (2005, 2006).
Woods has 16 wins and 27 top-10 finishes in 30 World Golf Championship starts. He has at least one victory per season in a World Golf Championship event since the inception of the series in 1999.
| Tiger Woods: 16 Official World Golf Championship victories | ||||||||
|
Nick Watney has now held at least a share of the 36-hole lead at four PGA TOUR events -- three this season (including the HSBC Champions). But this is the first time he has been able to maintain one of his five first-round leads into Round 2.
|
Watney is one of eight players from the United States in their 20s with two or more TOUR victories. The others are: Dustin Johnson, Troy Matteson, Lucas Glover, J.B. Holmes, D.J. Trahan, Sean O'Hair and Anthony Kim.
Alvaro Quiros shot the low round of the day. Quiros' 66 included an eagle-3 on No. 2, three consecutive birdies on Nos. 7-9, and a bogey on No. 15 followed by birdies on No. 16-17.
Quiros qualified for the HSBC Champions via his win at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy on the European Tour. He is making his third appearance at this event, with his best finish coming last year in a tie 10th.
Phil Mickelson, the 2007 HSBC Champions winner, recorded the only bogey-free round of the day, which was also the low round of the day (with Alvaro Quiros). The score helped Mickelson jump up the leaderboard from a tie for 13th after Round 1 to tied for third heading into the weekend.
Ryan Moore (T3) is competing in his first World Golf Championship this week at the HSBC Champions. Moore qualified by winning the Wyndham Championship, the final event in the PGA TOUR Regular Season.
Watney (T1), Moore (T3) and Pat Perez (seventh), are all winners on the PGA TOUR in 2009, which is how they earned a spot in this week's field. They are all playing the HSBC Champions for the first time in their careers.
Ernie Els made a hole-in-one during the second round at the 198-yard sixth. He used a 6-iron for the ace.
The 23 countries represent the most international field of the World Championships this year. Midway through the event, the top 10 includes six countries: USA (Woods, Watney, Mickelson, Moore, Kim, Perez, Gay); Spain (Alvaro Quiros); India (Jyoti Randhawa); Colombia (Camilo Villegas); Japan (Ryo Ishikawa, Koumei Oda); and Chinese Taipei (Lin Wen-tang).
No player in the HSBC Champions field has finished in the top 10 in all three previous World Golf Championships this season; below is a list of those who have posted two top-10 finishes and where they stand through 36 holes of the HSBC Champions.
|
There were 11 eagles on the day, including Ernie Els' hole-in-one, compared to three during the first round. Eagles were made on six different holes; on Thursday, all three eagles occurred on the 14th.
|
There were no bogey-free rounds during Round 1, and only Mickelson went bogey-free on Friday. Perez came close but made bogey on No. 9, his final hole of the day.
Ishikawa and Robert Allenby posted the best birdie streaks of the second round with four consecutive. Ishikawa birdied Nos. 5-8; Allenby birdied No. 1-4;
Round Two: 22 of the 78 players in the field broke 70 in the second round, while 40 players broke par and 51 were at par or better.