Three Players To Watch At The WGC-HSBC Champions

Sep 27, 2014; Perthshire, Perthshire, SCT; Team Europe golfer Rory McIlroy (R) celebrates with USA golfer Rickie Fowler (L) on the 18th green after they halved in their match on day two of the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles Resort – PGA Centenary Course. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

I love these World Golf Championship(WGC) tournaments, and especially the HSBC Champions, teeing off tonight at the Sheshan International Golf Resort in Shanghai. Depending on which tour you keep up with, the HSBC is either the last WGC of the year, or the first. Of course, it is the last in the 2014 calendar year, but the first in the 2014-2015 wrap-around season for the PGA Tour.

Many of the top players in the field from the USA have rested since the end of the grueling 2014 season, and the whooping they took at Gleneagles, while players who play mostly on the European Tour are finishing up their 2014 season, with many of them trying to stay alive in the Race To Dubai Championship.

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We have a confluence of players who are looking ahead to the 2015 season, and players in the middle of a dog-fight to finish up 2014. That is the reason picking winners at this event can be almost impossible. Last year, a rested Dustin Johnson came to Shanghai, and took the big check, along with a trophy away from European Tour players who were battling Henrik Stenson for the Race To Dubai Championship.

Rickie Fowler

This will be our first opportunity to see Rickie Fowler since he took a 5 & 4 beating from the world’s number one player in the Sunday Singles at Gleneagles. Along with partner, Jimmy Walker, Fowler faced McIlroy in almost every event during the Ryder Cup, and came away with no wins. They were able to pick up three half points, and lost 5 & 4 to the McDowell/Dubuisson team in Saturday Foursomes.

Fowler had a great 2014 season after getting swing help from Coach, Butch Harmon, finding some add distance to his tee shots. He missed seven cuts early in the year, but had moments where he looked really good. The 25 year-old from Murietta, California didn’t get a win on the year, but finished in the top five, in all of the majors.

I’m anxious to see how he comes out against this star-studded field, especially with McIlroy not being there. Sheshan would be a great place to get the new season going.

Jordan Spieth

We haven’t seen Jordan Spieth in competition since his loss to Graeme McDowell in the Sunday Singles at Gleneagles as well. I was impressed with how well the 21 year-old Spieth, along with Ryder Cup rookie partner Patrick Reed handled themselves, and played on the world’s stage. He played well as the first out on Sunday, but couldn’t put the wily old veteran away.

Sep 27, 2014; Perthshire, Perthshire, SCT; Team USA golfer Jordan Spieth reacts to his missed putt on the back nine in his afternoon match on day two of the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles Resort – PGA Centenary Course. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

In some circles, you might say that after the whirl-wind season Spieth had in 2013, he was bound to have a Sophomore Slump in 2014. The Dallas native wasn’t able to put another title on his résumé, but with two top fives, eight top 10’s, 18 top 25’s and over $4 Million dollars in prize money, it’s hard to call it a slump of any kind.

Jordan’s Sunday loss to Bubba Watson at the Masters, in my opinion, set the tone for his 2014 season. I think he might have played a few too many tournaments, although he only missed three cuts, he may do well in 2015 to find some places to rest down the stretch, and into the latter stages of the season.

Alexander Levy

I really like this kid. It will be interesting to see if he can come back this week from the devastating loss on Sunday at Lake Makaren. The young, American-born Frenchman had already won two tournaments in 2014, so I don’t think his meltdown, and 78 in the final round of the BMW Masters had anything to do with nerves. Probably had more to do with the wind, and a lucky chip-in by Marcel Siem in the playoff.

The HSBC Champions will not only give us some insight as to his mental state of mind, but give us a chance to see if he can continue the sub-seventy scores he has amassed since the Alfred Dunhill in Scotland.

As part of the young French Invasion that includes Victor Dubuisson, and Romain Watell, Alexander Levy looks to be the real-deal, and a possible fixture on the European Tour, and in future Ryder Cups for the next decade.

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