Posts Tagged China

We could have been in big trouble. We arrived at Sheshan at 7:30am and it was foggy as hell. Could hardly see anything. Did that mean there will be play tomorrow? Do we have to change our return tickets? So many unknowns. We had breakfast in the media room so that we could get first hand information. At first they announced that play would be delayed 30 minutes, so we headed for the range and putting greens to catch some action. There were plenty of people, both players and spectators, waiting for the tournament to start. It was amazing that even when Tiger Woods was just on the practice putting green, the crowds were already quickly building up.

Luckily at the end we were only delayed 75 minutes and we should be able to just finish the tournament before sunset. As planned, we waited for the final group of Francesco Molinari, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald. In the meantime, we caught Tiger passing by on the first fairway.

We were right and made a wise choice. As Tiger was 11 strokes behind the leader after day three, he was no way in contention. The winner would most likely be in the final group and the battle between Francesco and Lee turned out to be very fun to watch. And we had front row seats! It was almost like watching match play. Lee gets a birdie, Franceso matches with one too. There was only one one or two shots separating them with Francesco holding on to his third round lead. Then the match was sealed on the short Par 4 16th. Lee teed off first and drove the green, missing short and ended up in the small valley left of the putting surface. Francesco made the more conservative play and rightfully so. As he said in the interview afterward, his second shot landed close to the hole for an easy birdie, which gave additional pressure to Lee. Unfortunately, Lee’s flop shot came up short and ended up in the rough between the green and pot bunker. He had to settle for par. This left Francesco with a two stroke advantage with only two holes to play. With Francesco’s solid game it would be hard to birdie both 17 and 18 to force a playoff. The drama built up to a frenzy on the 18th green as Lee had a putt for eagle to force a playoff. There must have been more than 300 spectators and volunteers congregating like ants to an anthill to catch the action. Unfortunately, Lee narrowly missed and only birdied the 18th. Both shot a five under 67 with bogey free rounds, but it wasn’t enough for Lee to fend off Francesco. A great birthday present for Francesco, who turns 28 tomorrow. Nevertheless, Lee’s World Number One ranking is secure as Tiger, Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson finished tied 6th (T6), T30 and T41 respectively. Luke and Richie Ramsay were tied third, a whopping 10 strokes behind the leader. Typical in China, the tournament ended in grand style with fireworks illuminating the sky above the 18th green.

Getting the media pass and photographer’s armband was AMAZING. No better way to follow golf. It was very tiring (might need a week to recover) but it was well worth it. Will do it again anytime. Let’s review the TV broadcast and see if we can spot ourselves amongst the crowd

101107 HSBC Champions - View of 18th green at 7:30am

101107 HSBC Champions - Initial delay of 30 minutes

101107 HSBC Champions - Players warming up

We had breakfast as usual at the HSBC World Suite then went upstairs to the balcony overlooking the first fairway to plan our day ahead. We figured that the Tiger Woods crowd would be a bit too much to handle so we decided to follow Matteo Manassero (Manny) – the youngest winner of the European Tour at 17 years 188 days. We’re glad that he made it because after winning the Castelló Masters in Spain, he skipped the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama in order to go back to Italy and apply for his China visa. He wasn’t playing his best, maybe it’s the jet-lag, but his swing’s tempo is very consistent and balanced. We managed to walk all nine holes with him before we had to return the photographer’s armband.

On our way to the media center, we bumped into a friend who would follow Phil Michelson…inside the ropes! Wow, now that’s VVIP. We also followed Phil on his back nine but got tired and sat down at the Par 3 12th green to catch up with the final group of Francesco Molinari, Lee Westwood and Jaco van Zyl. Van who??? His success on the Sunshine Tour of South Africa gained a high ranking on the 2009 Order of Merit that qualified him for this event.

Things got interesting when Francesco eagled the Par 4 13th. Lee didn’t do too bad either and birdied the hole. We couldn’t resist and took a few pictures of Francesco pulling his eagle ball from the hole. At day’s end, they were just one shot apart with Francesco at -14 and Lee at -13. We know which flight we will be following tomorrow. And we’ve got the photographer’s armband for the whole day!

A side-note to acknowledge the hard work that all the volunteers put into making the WGC-HSBC Champions such a successful event. A nice photo caught one marshal in action silencing the crowd while Ryan Palmer was putting in the background with Martin Kaymer and Matteo Manassero looking on.

101106 HSBC Champions - 1st fairway from HSBC World Suite

101106 HSBC Champions - Ryo Ishikawa

101106 HSBC Champions - Rory McIlroy

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With only the photographer’s badge available until noon, we had to be selective and manage to get as many different shots as possible. So that again meant not following any particular group. With the morning sun, we found the second tee to be perfect. So we zig zagged between the first green and the second tee until Tiger Woods’ group passed by.

We watched Camilo Villegas on the first green and hoped that he would make his famous ‘Spiderman’ pose for us, but not this time. I guess it wasn’t necessary as he read the green perfectly and made his birdie putt.

As Tiger teed off on the Par 5 second, he suddenly paused at where the white tees would have been. What happened? Then we saw Steve (his caddie) sprint down the fairway like Usain Bolt – boy this guy is fit. Apparently Tiger’s ball entered the left lateral water hazard and Steve went up to see whether the ball could be found and played. After a bit of searching (within the five minutes allowed by the rules), Tiger incurred a penalty and was forced to drop another ball. With Steve 200+ yards down the fairway, we saw a rare sight – Tiger carrying his own bag! He eventually missed his par putt and took a six. Maybe it was the weight of his bag that kept him off balance?

On the Par 4 third, Phil Mickelson hit an amazing shot to the elevated tee and made his short birdie putt. What he did next was special. He gave his birdie ball to a spectator and made her very happy. A kind and nice gesture. Now let’s hang around Phil and see if he can give us one…

After we returned the photographer’s armband, we had this great opportunity to shoot Retief Goosen in the woods and Rory McIlroy playing from the first fairway (after taking an unplayable) while they were both on the 10th hole. Arghhhhh!!! Well rules are rules and we respect that. So no close-up pictures folks.

101105 HSBC Champions - Preparing the 9th green

101105 HSBC Champions - Practice green

101105 HSBC Champions - Alvaro Quiros

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Looking at the pairings sheet, we decided to randomly scout the field and not follow any particular group. We were told that we couldn’t take photos in Tiger Woods’ group because we didn’t have the photographer’s armband. We were under the impression that we could take pictures but just that we couldn’t go inside the ropes nor go into the designated photographer’s area. Maybe Tiger’s entourage was more protective. Anyway, we had our Tiger photo fix yesterday at the Pro-Am.

A fun side-note was a picture taken of a girl operating one of the giant scoreboards. I think she was about to change the name on the leader-board and realized that someone was on the green. Instead of closing the board and resuming her duties once the green was clear, she continued to watch enthusiastically as any eager fan would do. This strong interest in the game will go a long way in golf’s development in China. A pleasantly happy scene.

For lunch, we dropped by the HSBC Hexagon Suite, which is their VVIP hospitality tent that overlooks the 18th green. Inside, there was a putting simulator made by Sports Coach from the UK. We had a try, and like all simulators, judging putting distances was a bit tricky. Nevertheless, we had plenty of food to energize ourselves for more golf.

After taking lots of pictures of many players, we dropped by the HSBC Interactive Village. This included the usual Golf Simulator, Golf Experience (10 minute golf lesson with a CGA professional) and Children’s Zone. But HSBC did much more and there were many more games for everyone regardless of age. The Long Putt Challenge involved making an almost 80 foot putt to win a Boston bog full of goodies. The grand prize was a signed photo with David Howell plus a signed tour bag and putter. Another game, the Impossible Putt was really impossible. A swirling left to right break while avoiding a ‘pond’ meant little margin for error. We had to aim at a specific spot on the up slope to hopefully get gravity take it’s course. And no we did not win either of these games. But there’s more…a BMW Car Track, Chipping Zone, Photo Experience and even a six hole Mini Golf Zone. Enough to keep the whole family entertained for the afternoon.

We had the photographer issue sorted out and we will have the armband for half a day on Friday and Saturday and all day Sunday. Yippeee. Expect lots more photos to come.

101104 HSBC Champions - Practice green

101104 HSBC Champions - Short game area

101104 HSBC Champions - Louis Oosthuizen

Although we did not play in the Pro-Am, we were treated to press conferences by Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson. We also followed Tiger Woods for his front nine, broke up for lunch and resumed with his flight on the short 288 yard Par 4 16th. The highlight was the challenge by a member of the HSBC China Junior Golf Program on the Par 3 17th as he got the ball closer to the pin than Tiger. Finally, we visited Monty on the driving range as he gave tips to kids from the HSBC China Junior Golf Program.

As pictures are worth more than words, here are our snapshots from today.

101103 HSBC Champions - Sheshan Golf Club

101103 HSBC Champions - Tiger Woods press conference

101103 HSBC Champions - Lee Westwood press conference

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