2015 WGC-HSBC Champions

The 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions was a golf tournament played from 5–8 November 2015 at the Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai, China. It was the seventh WGC-HSBC Champions tournament, and the fourth of four World Golf Championships events held in 2015.

2015 WGC-HSBC Champions

Tournament information
Dates	5–8 November 2015
Location	Shanghai, China
Course(s)	Sheshan Golf Club
Tour(s)	Asian Tour European Tour PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	7,261 yards (6,639 m)
Field	78 players
Cut	None
Prize fund	$8,500,000
Winner's share	$1,400,000
Champion
Russell Knox
268 (−20)

Sheshan
Golf Club

Location in China

Russell Knox won by 2 strokes from Kevin Kisner. Danny Willett had a last round 62 to finish joint third with Ross Fisher, a further stroke behind. Knox was playing in his first WGC event and became the first Scot to win a World Golf Championship. Knox had only earned entry as third alternate.[1]

Field

The following is a list of players who qualified for the 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions. The criteria for invitation differed from 2014, with a move towards the leaders in points lists rather than tournament winners. Players who qualify from multiple categories are listed in the first category in which they are eligible with the other qualifying categories in parentheses next to the player's name.[2][3]

1. Winners of the four major championships and The Players Championship

Rickie Fowler (3,4), Jordan Spieth (3,4)

• Jason Day (3,4) and Zach Johnson (3,4) did not play

2. Winners of the previous four World Golf Championships

Dustin Johnson (3,4), Shane Lowry (3,5), Rory McIlroy (3,4,5), Bubba Watson (3,4)

3. Top 50 from the OWGR on 19 October

Kiradech Aphibarnrat (5), Daniel Berger (4), Paul Casey (4), Sergio García (5), Branden Grace (5), Emiliano Grillo, Thongchai Jaidee (5), Martin Kaymer (5), Chris Kirk, Kevin Kisner (4), Søren Kjeldsen (5), Anirban Lahiri (5), Danny Lee (4), Marc Leishman, David Lingmerth, Hunter Mahan, Hideki Matsuyama (4), Kevin Na (4), Louis Oosthuizen (4,5), Scott Piercy (4), Patrick Reed (4), Charl Schwartzel (5), Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson (4,5), Robert Streb (4), Andy Sullivan (5), Lee Westwood, Bernd Wiesberger (5), Danny Willett (5), Gary Woodland

• Jim Furyk (4), Bill Haas (4), Charley Hoffman (4), J. B. Holmes (4), Billy Horschel, Brooks Koepka (4), Matt Kuchar (4), Phil Mickelson, Ryan Palmer, Justin Rose (4,5), Brandt Snedeker (4), and Jimmy Walker (4) did not play

4. Top 30 from the final 2015 FedEx Cup points list (if there are less than five available players, players beyond 30th will be selected to increase the number to five)

Steven Bowditch, Harris English, Matt Jones, Daniel Summerhays, Justin Thomas

• Bae Sang-moon did not play due to military service

5. Top 30 from the Race to Dubai as of 26 October

An Byeong-hun, Luke Donald, Ross Fisher, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, David Howell, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, James Morrison, Alexander Norén, Thorbjørn Olesen, Thomas Pieters, Marc Warren, Chris Wood

• George Coetzee did not play

6. The leading four available players from the Asian Tour Order of Merit as of 26 October

Shiv Chawrasia, Andrew Dodt, Scott Hend, Richard T. Lee

7. The leading two available players from the Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit as of 26 October

Kim Kyung-tae, Satoshi Kodaira

• Yuta Ikeda did not play

8. The leading two available players from the final 2014 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit

Greg Chalmers, Steven Jeffress

9. The leading two available players from the final 2014 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit

Thomas Aiken, Daniel van Tonder

10. Six players from China

Cao Yi, Dou Zecheng, Li Haotong, Liang Wenchong, Wu Ashun, Zhang Xinjun

11. Alternates, if needed to fill the field of 78 players

• The next available player on the Orders of Merit of the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Tour, and PGA Tour of Australasia, ranked in order of their position in the OWGR as of 19 October
• Next available player, not otherwise exempt, from Race to Dubai as of 26 October, OWGR as of 19 October, FedEx Cup list:

1. Hiroshi Iwata (Japan)
2. Danny Chia (Asia)
3. Trevor Fisher Jnr (Sunshine)
4. Nick Cullen (Australasia)
5. Tyrrell Hatton (Race to Dubai; replaced George Coetzee)
6. Ian Poulter (OWGR; replaced Brandt Snedeker)
7. Russell Knox (FedEx Cup; replaced J. B. Holmes)
8. Cameron Smith (Asia; replaced Billy Horschel)

Nationalities in the field

North America (17)	South America (1)	Europe (27)	Oceania (11)	Asia (16)	Africa (6)
Canada (1)	Argentina (1)	England (13)	Australia (10)	China (6)	South Africa (6)
United States (16)		Northern Ireland (1)	New Zealand (1)	India (2)
		Scotland (2)		Japan (3)
		Ireland (1)		South Korea (2)
		Austria (1)		Malaysia (1)
		Belgium (1)		Thailand (2)
		Denmark (2)
		Germany (1)
		Spain (2)
		Sweden (3)

Past champions in the field

Player	Country	Year won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Dustin Johnson	United States	2013	65	71	65	71	272	−16	T5
Martin Kaymer	Germany	2011	69	71	73	67	280	−8	T30
Ian Poulter	England	2012	72	71	70	67	280	−8	T30
Bubba Watson	United States	2014	68	73	68	72	281	−7	T35

• Note: the HSBC Champions became a WGC event in 2009; winners before this are not listed.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 5 November 2015

Branden Grace shot a 9-under-par 63 to take a one-stroke lead over Steven Bowditch, Kevin Kisner, and Thorbjørn Olesen.[4]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Branden Grace	South Africa	63	−9
T2	Steven Bowditch	Australia	64	−8
	Kevin Kisner	United States
	Thorbjørn Olesen	Denmark
T5	Dustin Johnson	United States	65	−7
	Patrick Reed	United States
	Danny Willett	England
8	Li Haotong	China	66	−6
T9	Paul Casey	England	67	−5
	Harris English	United States
	Trevor Fisher Jnr	South Africa
	Tommy Fleetwood	England
	Russell Knox	Scotland
	Thomas Pieters	Belgium
	Zhang Xin-jun	China

Second round

Friday, 6 November 2015

Kevin Kisner shot a second-round 66 to take a two stroke lead over Russell Knox, who shot the low round of the day, 65. First-round leader Branden Grace shot a 71 to fall to third place, four strokes behind Kisner. Li Haotong, of China, moved up the leaderboard to a tie for 4th with a second-round 69.[5]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Kevin Kisner	United States	64-66=130	−14
2	Russell Knox	Scotland	67-65=132	−12
3	Branden Grace	South Africa	63-71=134	−10
T4	Li Haotong	China	66-69=135	−9
	Patrick Reed	United States	66-70=135
T6	Dustin Johnson	United States	65-71=136	−8
	Hunter Mahan	United States	68-68=136
	Bernd Wiesberger	Austria	70-66=136
T9	An Byeong-hun	South Korea	69-68=137	−7
	Matthew Fitzpatrick	England	68-69=137
	Scott Hend	Australia	68-69=137
	Louis Oosthuizen	South Africa	68-69=137

Third round

Saturday, 7 November 2015
Sunday, 8 November 2015

Third round play did not finish Saturday due to Russell Knox choosing not to play the last hole due to darkness.[6] When he finished his hole on Sunday, he was tied for the lead with Kevin Kisner at 16-under-par. They were one stroke ahead of Dustin Johnson and Li Haotong.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Kevin Kisner	United States	64-66-70=200	−16
	Russell Knox	Scotland	67-65-68=200
T3	Dustin Johnson	United States	65-71-65=201	−15
	Li Haotong	China	66-69-66=201
T5	Ross Fisher	England	69-69-65=203	−13
	Patrick Reed	United States	65-70-68=203
	Jordan Spieth	United States	68-72-63=203
T8	Branden Grace	South Africa	63-71-70=204	−12
	Scott Hend	Australia	68-69-67=204
	Thorbjørn Olesen	Denmark	64-74-66=204

Final round

Sunday, 8 November 2015

Russell Knox shot a final round 68 to beat Kevin Kisner by two strokes. Li Haotong's T7 finish was the highest PGA Tour finish for a Chinese player.[1]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Prize money (US$)
1	Russell Knox	Scotland	67-65-68-68=268	−20	1,400,000
2	Kevin Kisner	United States	64-66-70-70=270	−18	850,000
T3	Ross Fisher	England	69-69-65-68=271	−17	422,500
	Danny Willett	England	65-74-70-62=271
T5	Branden Grace	South Africa	63-71-70-68=272	−16	276,500
	Dustin Johnson	United States	65-71-65-71=272
T7	Matthew Fitzpatrick	England	68-69-69-67=273	−15	173,750
	Li Haotong	China	66-69-66-72=273
	Patrick Reed	United States	65-70-68-70=273
	Jordan Spieth	United States	68-72-63-70=273

Scorecard

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	5	4	3	4	3	4	5	4	4	4	3	4	5	4	4	3	5
Knox	−16	−17	−18	−17	−17	−18	−18	−18	−17	−18	−19	−19	−19	−19	−19	−20	−20	−20
Kisner	−15	−15	−15	−15	−15	−16	−16	−17	−17	−17	−17	−17	−17	−17	−17	−17	−17	−18
Fisher	−13	−14	−15	−15	−15	−15	−15	−16	−16	−17	−17	−17	−17	−17	−16	−16	−17	−17
Willett	−8	−9	−10	−11	−11	−11	−11	−12	−13	−14	−14	−14	−15	−16	−16	−17	−17	−17
Grace	−12	−13	−14	−14	−13	−14	−15	−16	−16	−16	−17	−16	−16	−17	−16	−16	−15	−16
Johnson	−15	−16	−17	−16	−16	−16	−17	−15	−15	−14	−14	−14	−14	−15	−15	−16	−16	−16
Fitzpatrick	−10	−11	−11	−11	−11	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12	−13	−13	−14	−14	−15
Li	−14	−12	−13	−12	−11	−12	−12	−13	−13	−13	−13	−13	−13	−13	−13	−14	−15	−15
Reed	−13	−14	−14	−14	−14	−14	−14	−15	−15	−15	−15	−15	−16	−14	−14	−14	−14	−15
Spieth	−12	−13	−13	−13	−12	−12	−12	−13	−13	−13	−13	−13	−13	−14	−14	−15	−15	−15

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[7]

References

1. "Russell Knox shoots 68 to win first PGA Tour title at HSBC Champions". ESPN. Associated Press. 8 November 2015.
2. "The Field". HSBC Champions. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
3. "WGC-HSBC Champions: Entry List". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
4. "Branden Grace leads; Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson shoot 68". ESPN. Associated Press. 5 November 2015.
5. "Kevin Kisner opens 2-shot lead at HSBC Champions". ESPN. Associated Press. 6 November 2015.
6. "Jordan Spieth eyes Shanghai prize as Rory McIlroy battles on". ESPN. Associated Press. 7 November 2015.
7. "World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions". ESPN. Retrieved 9 November 2015.

External links

• Coverage on Asian Tour's official site
• Coverage on European Tour's official site
• Coverage on PGA Tour's official site