WGC-HSBC Champions
Shanghai, China
Playing out of the final threesome, World No. 19 Xander Schauffele, a pre-tourney 35/1 outright, overcame a three-shot deficit with a day-low, 4-under-par 34-34=68 on Sunday at Sheshan International Golf Club to match overnight leader and playing competitor Tony Finau (71) on 14-under 274, and then defeated him with birdie on the first hole of sudden death, the par-5 18th.
The 25-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on the first day of the tournament (October 25th), bags his third PGA TOUR title in 60 events, all three in come-from-behind fashion, and first since the 2017 TOUR Championship 30 starts ago, where he came from two back with 2-under 68 to win by one over eventual FedExCup champion Justin Thomas.
Defending champ Justin Rose, who began in a three-way T2 and completed the final threesome, shot even-par 72 for solo 3rd, four adrift of the playoff, while WGC-debutant Andrew Putnam (72) and first-time TOUR member Kiradech Aphibarnrat (71), shared 4th place, six in arrears.
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Final Leaderboard (pre-tourney odds outright):
1- (-14, 274) Xander Schauffele (35/1)
2- (-14, 274) Tony Finau (20/1)
3- (-10, 278) Justin Rose (10/1)
4- (-8, 280) Kiradech Aphibarnrat (125/1)
4- (-8, 280) Andrew Putnam (200/1)
Leaders in Strokes Gained Stats:
N/A; no ShotLink at WGC-HSBC
Schauffele, who checked in off a T48 at THE CJ CUP and 25th at the CIMB, collects 550 FedExCup points and leaps 59 places to a career-high 1st in the FEC standings, and also climbs seven places to a career-high 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He was 32nd in OWGR after winning the 2017 TOUR Championship during his rookie campaign, and a short time later, would be named the 2017 Rookie of the Year after a multiple-win season.
This was the SDSU alum’s second HSBC after T46 last year (71-75-74-71) and overall, his first top 10 in six WGCs, brushing aside a previous-best T13 at the 2017 Bridgestone in his WGC debut.
His form in his last 10 WGCs, majors, THE PLAYERS or FEC Playoffs events includes six top-10 finishes (P1-7-3-49-MC-35-68-2-6-2), cementing his status as a big-game hunter.
For the week, the California native and resident tallied 21 birdies versus five bogeys and one double. He ranked 1st in Birdie to Bogey Ratio and Scrambling, and T1 in Total Bogeys and Par-4 Scoring. See his full stats at the bottom.
Schauffele records his seventh career top-3 finish and 12th top 10 (60 events), third in his last five starts and first since T7 at the 2018 TOUR Championship three starts ago as defending champ.
Form: P1-48-25-7-3-49-MC-35-68-2
How Schauffele Won on Sunday:
Beginning the day three back, Schauffele turned in 2-under 34 (3 birdies, 1 bogey), now one back of Finau, who exchanged an opening 3-putt bogey with birdie-4 at 2 to turn level-par.
After Finau added a second red number at 10, Schauffele was two back, but the frontrunner would square back-to-backs at 11 and 12, and the duo were now tied.
Schauffele seized his first lead with birdie-3 at 13, quickly tied by Finau’s birdie-4 at 14, and then dropped one behind with bogey-5 at 15.
Finau had a golden chance to move two clear at the short par-4 16th, but left his second from 73 yards away (from the fairway) about 17 feet short, and the ensuing birdie try short as well. Meanwhile, Schauffele managed a lengthy two-putt par after hitting his tee ball in the pine straw.
At the 71st hole, the 214-yard par-3 17th, Finau missed the green left, into the bunker, and after failing to convert the scoring opportunity at 16, got up-and-down for par.
Schauffele, with the door now open, walked through it with birdie-2, curling in a left-to-righter from about 15 feet for just the fourth birdie at 17 all day, and was now tied for the lead again.
Both men matched 4s at the closing par 5. Finau, two-putted, leaving a lengthy eagle try short woefully short, and Schauffele narrowly missed his eagle try from the shaved-down rough in the back of the green, but not before having to replace his ball there after Rose’s third shot hit his, knocking both balls down the bank and into the water.
In extra time, Finau went first and hit his drive into a left, fairway bunker, while Schauffele would skirt that same bunker and end up in the short grass. He hit his second on the green and cozied the eagle try to within inches, while Finau, forced to layup, was left with a mid-range birdie try (from the fringe) and came up woefully short, again.
FUN FACT: Schauffele ranked last in Driving Accuracy thru 54 holes (14/42) but piped 11 (of 14) in R4, including 6-for-7 on the back nine.
Schauffele’s Career:
Starts: 60
Cuts Made: 45 (75.0%)
Top 25s: 25 (41.6%)
Top 10s: 12 (20.0%)
Top 3s: 7 (11.6%)
Wins: 3 (5.0%)
3 wins
2019: WGC-HSBC (come from behind, 3-shot deficit)
Winning Margin: PLAYOFF
Career Start: 60
Event Type: WGC (LIMITED FIELD, NO CUT)
2017: TOUR Championship (come from behind, 2-shot deficit)
Winning Margin: 1 shot
Career Start: 30
Event Type: FEC PLAYOFFS (LIMITED FIELD, NO CUT)
2017: The Greenbrier Classic (come from behind, 3-shot deficit)
Winning Margin: 1 shot
Career Start: 23
Event Type: FULL FIELD
TOUR Wins by Season:
2019: 1 (WGC-HSBC)
2018: 0
2017: 2 (TOUR Championship; Greenbrier)
Field Scoring Average:
This was the 14th overall playing of the HSBC, 10th as a WGC event, and 9th at Sheshan Int’l, 6th consecutive:
Scorecard Yardage: 7,261
Par: 72 (36-36)
Cumulative scoring averages:
R1: 72.29
R2: 72.90
R3: 73.47
R4: 74.38
Total: 73.26
Schauffele: 66-71-69-68
Finau: 66-67-70-71
*Had there been Strokes Gained stats, both players would have posted a 19.04 SG: Total
Schauffele’s Position by Round:
R1: T2 (2 back)
R2: 5th (4 back)
R3: T2 (3 back)
R4: T1
FUN FACT: In 93 rounds played during last season’s winless sophomore campaign, Schauffele led/co-led 2 times after any round (in 27 events). He was the second-round leader at the BMW Championship five starts ago (finished T3), and a 54-hole tri-leader at The Open Championship, where he finished T2.
Leader/co-leaders by Round:
R1: Patrick Reed (finished T7): Drops to 3-for-5 as 18-hole leader/co-leader
R2: Tony Finau (finished P2): Drops to 0-for-2 as 36-hole leader/co-leader
R3: Tony Finau (P2): Drops to 0-for-2 as 54-hole leader/co-leader
R4: Xander Schauffele (P1): Playoff Record: 1-0
R4: Tony Finau (P2): Playoff Record: 1-1
NOT SO FUN FACT: In the last 96 stroke-play events, dating to the beginning of the 2016-17 season, Finau was the 10th player (11th time) to hold a 3-shot lead thru 54 holes and the second straight to end up losing in a playoff, joining Brandt Snedeker at the season opener in Napa, who lost in extra time to Kevin Tway.
3-shot lead or greater conversion during this span: 54.50% (6-for-11)
*Note: Last season, all four players who held a 3-shot lead thru 54 holes won, culminated by Tiger Woods at the TOUR Championship, who shot 1-over 71 to win by two over a hard-charging runner-up Billy Horschel (66).
Low Rounds:
R1: 64: Patrick Reed
R2: 64: Thomas Pieters
R3: 67: Andrew Putnam, Thorbjorn Olesen
R4: 68: Xander Schauffele
FUN FACT: Just two players in the last 19 events won with the low R4 score. Schauffele, and Francesco Molinari, who fired an 8-under par 62 to win his first TOUR title at the 2018 Quicken Loans National. Keegan Bradley recorded the joint-low R4 score to win the 2018 BMW Championship (6-under 64), prevailing over 54-hole leader Rose (67) in sudden death.
Bogey-free Rounds:
R1: (6): Patrick Reed (64); Xander Schauffele (66); Billy Horschel (68); C.T. Pan (68); Patrick Cantlay (70); Kyle Stanley (70)
R2: (2): Justin Rose (67); Kyle Stanley (69)
R3: (0)
R4: (0)
Multiple Bogey-Free Rounds:
Stanley (x2)
Spotlights:
Tony Finau (P2): Outright leader after R2 (by three) and R3 (by three), ended with a four-birdie, three-bogey effort. He made his WGC debut here last year with T11, tops among 17 WGC first-timers, and records his second top 10 in five overall WGCs, two straight after T10 at the 2018 Bridgestone.
The 29-year-old, who arrived off a T10 at the Alfred Dunhill Links three weeks ago, preceded by a 2-1-0 record as a Ryder Cup rookie and captain’s pick, has now recorded six top 10s in his last eight worldwide starts, two of those runners-up, joining a solo 2nd at THE NORTHERN TRUST. He finished a career-best 6th in the FEC standings last season, culminating with a T15 in his first TOUR Championship.
One knock against the Utah native and resident is wins, or lack thereof. Since turning pro in 2007, he has two wins, one on the Web.com Tour in 2014, and one in 120 events on the main stage, a P1 at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open 74 starts ago.
Finau didn’t exactly lose this one, however, his closing 71 being 3.377 strokes better than the field average in R4, more so, it was about Schauffele, whose 68 was the best round of the day and one of only three players to break 70 on Sunday. The other two, Brooks Koepka (69) and Francesco Molinari (69) were not pressure-packed though, as neither of them began R4 inside the top 25.
Justin Rose (3rd): The defender and 2018 FEC champ, who arrived off a solo 8th as tournament host at the British Masters two weeks ago – preceded by a 2-2-0 record at the Ryder Cup four weeks ago – got his FEC defense off to a solid start. He was attempting to become just the second player to defend a WGC title (Tiger Woods, eight times), and dropped one spot after a level-par 72 (4 birdies, 4 bogeys) out of the final 3-ball.
Overall, it’s the 38-year-old’s 12th top 10 in 42 WGCs, two in his last 10 tries and two in his last three. After missing the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST to kickoff the FEC Playoffs, he’s now recorded four consecutive top-4 finishes on TOUR (3-4-P2-2).
Andrew Putnam (T4): The third-year man, who broke through at the 2018 opposite-field Barracuda as the 54-hole leader (49th career start), was tops of 24 making their tourney debut – and only top-10 finisher – and was also top WGC debutant (of 18). Next-best in the latter were T22s by non-members Erik van Rooyen and Andrea Pavan, and C.T. Pan. The 29-year-old, who finished a career-best 33rd in the FEC standings last season, checked in off a T29 at THE CJ CUP and T50 at the CIMB.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (T4): The first-time member though not a rookie quietly has three top-5 finishes now in the last three WGC’s played, joining T5s at the 2018 Match Play and Mexico Championship. Overall, it’s his third top 10 in 15 WGCs, third straight. The 29-year-old, a 5-time winner of international events, including four in 143 starts on the Euro Tour, arrived off a T33 at the CIMB two weeks ago on a sponsor exemption. He led the field in Total Putts with 98 (26-26-21-25).
Odds Favorite(s) Outright:
Dating to the beginning of the 2016-17 season (145 events), the pre-tourney fave/co-fave has won 10 times, none this season thru five events.
Last Season:
47 (non-team) tournaments
4 pre-tourney fave/co-faves won:
Dustin Johnson: 11/2 (Canadian Open)
Dustin Johnson: 6/1 (St. Jude)
Jon Rahm: 8/1 (CareerBuilder)
Justin Thomas: 15/2 (CJ CUP)
Dustin Johnson: The World No. 2 and 2014 winner in the first edition at Sheshan Int’l, was the pre-tourney 7/1 fave outright and never factored. He finished T30 on 3-over 291 (74-73-73-71), a distant 17 in arrears.
Johnson, who lost the top-ranking to Koepka after sitting out last week’s CJ CUP, was making his first start of the season after going a dismal 1-4-0 at the Ryder Cup. He owns five WGC titles – no one else in the field had more than two – and should have a sixth, after blowing a six-shot lead thru 54 holes here last year.
This was DJ’s worst finish since a MC at The Open at Carnoustie back in July, Of course, he then won the next week at the RBC Canadian Open, his most recent of 19 TOUR titles.
Refresher:
The last 10 winners on TOUR (reverse order): Brandt Snedeker (Wyndham); Bryson DeChambeau (The NT); Bryson DeChambeau (Dell Tech); Keegan Bradley (BMW); Tiger Woods (TOUR Championship); Kevin Tway (Safeway); Marc Leishman (CIMB); Brooks Koepka (CJ CUP); Xander Schauffele (WGC-HSBC); Cameron Champ (Sanderson Farms).
Tidbits:
Of the 77 players in the field, 11 were previous WGC winners and three of those finished in the top 10: Justin Rose (3rd); Keegan Bradley (6th); Patrick Reed (T7).
In his first start as World No. 1, Brooks Koepka followed last week’s win at THE CJ CUP with a T16 on 2-under 286, 12 adrift. To his credit, he was T40 thru 36 holes (72-74), climbing 12 places after each of his weekend laps (71-69).
Rory McIlroy, a pre-tourney 8/1 outright and the owner of the most WGC top 10s of anyone in the field with 21 in 33 prior events, suffered his third-worst finish with T54 on 10-over 298 (72-77-75-74), 24 shots short of the playoff. He ate 11 bogeys, 4 doubles, and 2 triple bogey-8s. In six previous HSBC’s, he had amassed five top-6s and his worst finish was T11. #Perplexing
3
Through 5 non-team events this season:
3 winners were in their 20s (Schauffele: age 25; Cameron Champ: age 23)
2 were in their 30s
0 were in their 40s
Last Season:
20s: 17
30s: 24
40s: 6
Making his tourney debut and ninth career start (seven pro) and second as a member, PGA TOUR rookie and overnight leader (by four) Cameron Champ birdied five of his final six holes en route to a 4-under-par 37-31=68 to win the opposite-field Sanderson Farms in Mississippi by four over runner-up and playing competitor Corey Conners (68) with a 72-hole total of 21-under 267 (65-70-64-68).
He’s the second, first-time winner of the season, joining Kevin Tway, who broke through at the Safeway in his 91st career start (90 pro).
The World No. 234, a pre-tourney 50/1 outright, won in dominant fashion, leading/co-leading after every round, and finished the week No. 1 in Total Birdies (28), Driving Distance all drives (308.0 yards) and putts per GIR (1.582); and ranked 2nd in SG: Off-the-Tee (5.680) and SG: Putting (9.088). #Lethal
He arrived off a back-door T25 at the Safeway three weeks ago, where he climbed 41 spots with a final-round 68 that was 4.743 strokes better than the field average in R4.
The 23-year-old vaults 113 places to a career-high 121 in OWGR and 66 spots to a career-high 6th in the FEC points race.
Carlos Ortiz (64) and Sam Burns (68) shared 3rd place, six back. Conners, Ortiz and Burns all posted career bests on TOUR.
Schauffele’s Weekly Stats at HSBC (ranking of 77 players):
Birdies: 21 (3rd)
Bogeys: 5 (T1)
Doubles: 1 (T12)
Birdie or Better: 29.17% (3rd)
Birdie to Bogey Ratio: 3.50 (1st)
Par-3 Scoring: 3.00 (T6)
Par-4 Scoring: 3.88 (T1)
Par-5 Scoring: 4.44 (T2)
Driving Accuracy: 25/56 (T71) at 44.64%
GIR: 49/72 (T8) at 68.06%
Putts per GIR: 1.612 (5th)
Total Putts: 104 (5th)
Putts by Round: 23-27-25-29
Scrambling: 18/23 (1st) at 78.26%
