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Eight Ryder Cuppers to play at HSBC Champions

Ryder Cup stars Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Chris Di Marco have confirmed they will be going up against each other once again at the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai from November 9-12.

They will be joined by some of the most stand-out stars of the 2006 Ryder Cup including European team members Colin Montgomerie, defending champion David Howell and winner of the 2006 HSBC World Match Play Championship, Paul Casey.

Di Marco will be joined by fellow Americans, world number one Tiger Woods and world number three Jim Furyk, in what looks certain to be the strongest field ever seen in China.

Irish star and the 19th ranked Harrington said: “I am really looking forward to playing in the HSBC Champions – although I won in Hong Kong in 2004, I have never won on mainland China and it would be a great start to my 2007 campaign if I could do well at the HSBC Champions.”

World number eight Donald said: “I was disappointed I couldn’t work the inaugural HSBC Champions into my schedule and from what I’ve heard, I missed a great event so I am excited to be there in November. I really enjoy playing a global schedule and I enjoyed playing in China in 2005 at the BMW Asian Open and with so many of my Ryder Cup friends playing there too, it will be a fun week.”

America’s Di Marco, the world number 16, is also looking forward to visiting Shanghai. “I have had my best results this year when I have been traveling - in the UK where I finished second at the Open Championship and the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship which I won. I really do enjoy traveling and learning about new places and experiencing different cultures so including the HSBC Champions in my schedule was an easy choice.”

The HSBC Champions offers a prize fund of US$5 million, the largest across Asia, with winners from four leading golf tours and the top 50 on the Official World Rankings qualifying. The event is co-sanctioned by The European Tour, Asian Tour, the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Sunshine (Southern Africa) Tour, and the China Golf Association.

September 27, 2006