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Montgomerie leads European challenge at HSBC Champions

Colin Montgomerie, who won The European Tour Order of Merit on Sunday for a record eighth time, will lead the European challenge at the inaugural 'HSBC Champions' tournament in Shanghai at the Sheshan International Golf Club, from November 10-13.

"I am thrilled to have won my eighth Order of Merit title and, after a such a long gap where everyone probably thought I wouldn't be able to do it again, it is particularly satisfying," said Montgomerie on being presented with the Harry Vardon Trophy as European Number One.

"I am now looking to get my 2006 campaign off to a great start and to consolidate my position on The Ryder Cup Rankings and a win or a good finish at the HSBC Champions would certainly do that."

Paul McGinley, winner of the Volvo Masters on Sunday and runner up in the 2005 HSBC World Match Play Championship last month, is also full of confidence as he heads to China.

"I am so pleased to win a title of this size and to do it in the style I did," said McGinley after his victory in Valderrama. "Those three near-misses this year really hurt me - I was absolutely devastated after losing the final of the HSBC World Match Play. I put a lot of what happened in those losses into practice and that I was able to do it means a huge, huge, huge amount to me."

Montgomerie and McGinley will be joined by a host of European stars including Padraig Harrington, a two-time winner on the US PGA Tour this year and other 2004 Ryder Cup team-mates Paul Casey, David Howell, Thomas Levet, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, all of whom will also be hoping to make an impact at the HSBC Champions, where the prize fund of US$5 million is the largest in the history of Asian and Chinese golf.

The HSBC Champions Tournament is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour, the Sunshine (Southern Africa) Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and the China Golf Association.

November 1, 2005