Golf:Graeme McDowell has been handed a top draw alongside deposed world number one Tiger Woods and fellow major winner Ernie Els for the opening two rounds of the WGC-HSBC Champions which gets under way in Shanghai from Thursday.
McDowell travelled east on the back of his Andalucia Masters win at Valderrama on Sunday, his third win of the season and one that propelled the 31-year-old into the world’s top 10 for the first time.
The US Open champion, Woods and Els will set off at 5.25pm (Irish time) on Thursday from the 10th tee at the Sheshan International Golf Club.
Rory McIlroy is two groups in front and will play alongside Retief Goosen and Lian Wen-Chong at 5.05pm with Pádraig Harrington in the group ahead (4.55pm) alongside British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Yuta Ikeda from Japan.
The game’s leading lights have gathered for this week’s lucrative event where €860,153 is up for grabs to the winner. McDowell may have his mind set on catching Martin Kaymer in the Race to Dubai standings and trails the German by just over €500,000.
Added to this, the issue of world number one will also be up for grabs with Woods (second), Kaymer (third) and Phil Mickelson (fourth) all ready for a tilt at Westwood’s top spot after just one week at the helm.
Woods pointed to Westwood’s recent consistency in major championships as he paid tribute today to his successor. The Englishman, who finished second in both the Masters and the Open this year, ended Woods’ 281-week reign at the top. The American said Westwood, who at one point slipped out to 266th in the world rankings before working his way back, is a worthy number one.
“Look how well he’s finished in the major championships. He hasn’t won one but he’s come so close. It’s just a matter of time,” said Woods on BBC Radio 5 Live:.
“Lee’s been by far the most consistent of all the players in the majors over the last two years. You don’t necessarily have to win. It helps, but if you’re finishing in the top three or four at a major championship you’re racking up so many points and he’s done that over the last couple of years better than anybody.
“He’s made enormous leaps with his game, he was struggling for a few years and turned his whole game around.”
All told thought, Woods believes he has a chance to make a swift return to the top spot, starting with this weeks event in Shanghai.
“I’ve been there before,” he added. “I’ve been there many times actually, it’s one of those things. I won the Masters in 1997, changed my swing - then went from the middle of ‘97 to the middle of ‘99 with only one win. After that I had some pretty good years.
“I go into every tournament to try to win. There’s no sense teeing up if you’re not there to win.
“Every year it’s getting more difficult because the fields are getting deeper. I don’t know how many tournaments I’ve played in this year where from the cut - the top 70 and ties - to the guy leading the tournament was just eight shots.
“That’s unheard of - it’s always about 12, 14 shots. But now there are more players that are more consistent and the scores are lower, the cuts are lower.”
After the traumatic events of the last 12 months - in which a sex scandal saw him take a break from the game - Woods is ready to focus his efforts once more on golf.
“I’m in a much, much better place. I’m much happier, much more balanced. I’ve gone through a lot and thank God I did, because I needed to put my life back into an order.”
With that done, the 14-time major winner can once more target the legendary Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major titles.
“It’s about finding a balance, and I’ve done that and I’m moving forward,” added Woods. “It’s a career. It took Jack over 20 years and I haven’t been playing that long. It’s a matter of being consistent and I’m working towards that.
“No-one has done better than Jack with 18... at the end of the day, hopefully I’ll have more than 18 major championships. It’s the highest benchmark there is in our sport. I’m close, I have a lot of great years ahead of me.”
Tee-times in the first round of the WGC-HSBC Champions, Sheshan International GC, Shanghai, China
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, all times Irish):
(x) denotes amateurs
Starting at hole 1
1650Jason Bohn (USA), Richie Ramsay, Andrew Dodt (Aus)
1700Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Bill Lunde (USA)
1710Marcus Fraser (Aus), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Pablo Martin (Spa)
1720Katsumasa Miyamoto (Jpn), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Michael Sim (Aus)
1730Michio Matsumura (Jpn), Richard Green (Aus), Simon Khan
1740Stuart Appleby (Aus), Ryan Palmer (USA), Matteo Manassero (Ita)
1750Anders Hansen (Den), Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn), Heath Slocum (USA)
1800Li Chao (Chn), Bill Haas (USA), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)
1810Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha), Alistair Presnell (Aus), Richard S Johnson (Swe)
1820Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn), Arjun Atwal (Ind), Rhys Davies
1830Hao Yuan (Chn), Shunsuke Sonoda (Jpn), Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa)
1840Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Mardan Mamat (Sin), Danny Willett
1850Brendan Jones (Aus), Kang-Chun Wu (Chn), David Horsey
Starting at hole 10
1645Robert Allenby (Aus), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Anthony Kim (USA)
1655Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa),
Pádraig Harrington
1705Retief Goosen (Rsa), Liang Wen-Chong (Chn),
Rory McIlroy
1715Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Ian Poulter, Nick Watney (USA)
1725Tiger Woods (USA), Ernie Els (Rsa),
Graeme McDowell
1735Martin Kaymer (Ger), Hunter Mahan (USA), Paul Casey
1745Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson (USA), Y.E. Yang (Kor)
1755Henrik Stenson (Swe), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Rickie Fowler (USA)
1805Adam Scott (Aus), Peter Hanson (Swe), Seung-yul Noh (Kor)
1815Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn), Robert Karlsson (Swe)
1825Ben Crane (USA), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor)
1835Ross Fisher, Camilo Villegas (Col), K J Choi (Kor)
1845Luke Donald, Tim Clark (Rsa), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa)