Garcia aims for first successful title defense at HSBC Champions

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Sergio Garcia will attempt to record a personal first in Shanghai, China, next month when the HSBC Champions, at the Sheshan International Golf Club from Nov. 5-8, is elevated to a World Golf Championships event for the first time.

The 29-year-old Spaniard captured the HSBC Champions title last November following a playoff with England's Oliver Wilson, adding the tournament to the plethora of titles he has garnered across the globe since he turned professional a decade ago.

But Garcia has never defended one of his titles, and it is something the eight-time European Tour champion is keen to put right when he returns to China in two weeks.

"I suppose being defending champion brings its own unique pressure but, actually, I feel more excited than anything else about going back to Shanghai," he said. "I'll be the defending champion on a course I really enjoy and it goes without saying I'd love this to be the first tournament in my career that I successfully defend.

"To win last year was very exciting for me as the HSBC Champions had such a strong field. I value all my titles around the world for different reasons but it is right up there as one of my best wins.

"I don't need any extra motivation to try and win again, the fact the tournament is now a WGC is enough. I'd love to win a WGC event as they are just below the Majors in importance. I haven't won one yet so I'd love to do that and defend my title at the same time -- that would be some week."

Garcia will headline an impressive European challenge for the fourth and final WGC of the 2009 season, all keen to see a European name added to the list of WGC event winners this year which, to date, features Australia's Geoff Ogilvy and Americans Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

Alongside the Spaniard will be strong Europeans in Sweden's Henrik Stenson, winner of THE PLAYERS Championship on the in May, and three-time major champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland, who both joined the chorus of approval at the decision to award WGC status to the HSBC Champions.

"It is right that the World Golf Championships are played all around the world as the name suggests and I think this tournament is the right choice," Stenson said. "It is already a very established international golf tournament and I think China will make an excellent job of welcoming the world's best players for a great week of golf."

Harrington added: "I think it is an excellent decision by the International Federation of PGA Tours. The HSBC Champions established itself immediately on the players' schedules and has gotten better and better every year."

Also in the field are the men who currently occupy the top four places in The Race to Dubai on the European Tour -- England's Lee Westwood, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, Germany's Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey of England who will be looking to strengthen their positions with the season-ending Dubai World Championship looming.