China OpenPardaig Harrington, number eight in the world, joins world number two Phil Mickelson and number four Ernie Els in a cosmopolitan field in the battle for Asia's richest prize at the third Champions tournament in Shanghai, which begins late tonight Irish time (Beijing is eight hours ahead).
In that trio, along with Vijay Singh, Angel Cabrera and Retief Goosen, the Champions - which organisers hope one day will be "Asia's major" - boasts six players with 13 major championship victories between them.
With Tiger Woods skipping the lucrative event (the winner takes home €575,000) for the first time, Mickelson will be the man to beat among the Tuscan villas of the Sheshan course.
The form player, though, is US Open champion Cabrera, who held off Singh to win the Singapore Open last weekend to move to 14th in the world.
The 2007 European Tour season ended last weekend in Valderrama and Harrington will be in Shanghai trying to get a head start in the 2008 race after relinquishing his Order of Merit crown to Justin Rose.
