Americans eager for China's first WGC

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Last month's announcement that World No. 2 Phil Mickelson would, for the first time, be meeting his archrival Tiger Woods on Asian soil in Shanghai this November would seem to have removed any lingering fears that awarding World Golf Championship status to China's HSBC Champions tournament would be undermined by a reluctance among America's top golfers to cross the Pacific Ocean.

A straw poll of some of the top golfers stateside reveals not just willingness, but a real enthusiasm to follow the example of Tiger and "Lefty" (Mickelson) and play at Sheshan in early November.

"I've never been to China so I'm excited about that. I'm looking forward to the culture shock. I'm looking forward to the food, the sights and seeing what it's all like," said Sean O'Hair, who booked his place in Shanghai when he won the PGA TOUR's Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina in May.

"It's just the caliber of the players and the caliber of the golf tournament -- you look forward to doing that. I'd much rather be playing in an event like that than be sitting at home getting cold in November. I'm looking forward to it," added the 27-year-old Texan whose three career wins and 22 top-ten finishes, including eight in 2009, make him one of the most successful of the players still in their twenties.

"I've got a family so I don't like to do a whole lot of travel, but I just think when you've got an event like that -- obviously, before it became a World Golf Championship it already had a very good field ¬-- to make it that much more of an event by making it a WGC, what's there not to like? You've got some of the best players in the world playing on a great golf course," he added.

Brian Gay, whose Verizon Heritage and St Jude Classic wins both carried an automatic entry into the WGC-HSBC Champions, is another player willing to extend his season beyond the FedEx Cup play-offs and endure the long flight to the Far East. The late-blooming 37-year-old, who is close to winning US$4 million in prize money this year, cites two reasons for his eagerness. The first is the need to expand the sport's popularity worldwide. The second, a desire to return to the continent 12 years after cutting his teeth in Asia straight after graduating from the University of Florida "Gators" (now home to Chinese phenom Hu Mu).

"We all want time off, but I'm willing to venture out. China's growing a bunch and it's obviously good for the growth of the game to spread the WGCs around. It's just good for the game. And China's probably doing better than the US right now," explains Gay, who played around eight events on the old Asian PGA TOUR in 1997.

"It says it must be a good golf course and a good test, because two of the best golfers in the world have won there. I'm sure it's good," Gay said. Dustin Johnson, whose AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am win in February earned the 25-year-old a place in the first WGC tournament outside the US since 2006, has not only decided to make the trip to China, he's already chosen his caddie at the Sheshan International Golf Club. Johnson is calling on his former Coastal Carolina University team-mate Chad Selzler for some local knowledge. Selzler works at the David Leadbetter Academy at Mission in Hills near Shenzhen in Guangdong.

The top PGA Tour players haven't had too many opportunities to spread their wings recently. The only time the WGC ventured further than Europe was in 2001 when the Accenture Match Play Championship bounced into Australia with an under strength field. Despite flying time being similar, and perhaps because the World No. 1 Tiger Woods -- a man who collects WGC titles the same way his compatriots used to snap up Beanie Babies, Pokémon cards and Transformers -- was the first player to officially confirm that he'd be playing Sheshan, there seems to be a totally different attitude amongst the American players compared to when they were asked to go "down under."

And it's not just the younger guys still trying to establish themselves among the upper echelons of the world elite. Scott Verplank, a 45-year-old veteran with five PGA Tour titles under his belt (most recently at the 2007 HP Byron Nelson Championship), says he still hopes to find a way of getting into the field.

"It's a long way to go and we're pretty spoiled because we generally have all the big tournaments in the United States, but I think it'll be neat. I hope I'm in it. If I'm qualified then I'm going to go. I think it'll be a tournament to go to," said Verplank, adding that he had little doubt that the HSBC Champions will succeed in its new WGC guise.

"I think it'll end up being great. It's a huge market -- the Asian market and the Chinese market -- and I think that's the reason why we wanted to get it as a World Golf Championship."

Given that the leading players are used to finishing their schedules immediately after the FedExCup and add in the fact that the HSBC Champions elevation to the WGC stable was only announced in late April at a point when many players schedules are sketched out, if not cast in stone, then it's reasonable to expect some of the US-based pros to take a wait-and-see approach to the first edition.

"Once guys see a few guys go over there and play for a US$7 million dollar purse I think it will grow. It's the best thing for that tournament and certainly for the other three WGCs to have one with an international footing. HSBC's been a great tournament for several years," says 45-year-old Love, a long-standing member of the PGA TOUR's Policy Board with 20 PGA TOUR victories in his career and a portion of freeway in his home state of Georgia named after him.

"We tried Australia and we tried in Ireland and they didn't quite have the success with the players and they didn't quite have the success with the sponsors. You've got to go where the money comes from and the sponsors want certain time zones and they want a certain amount of fans, but that's why HSBC is so important for the World Golf Championships because they want it in China. This will work, because it's already an existing event that works. I think that it'll work and hopefully I'll get in! Hopefully it'll continue to grow... it'll work for sure!"