HSBC Champions Tournament

With the 2005 season over, we jump straight into the 2006 European season this week with a trip to Shanghai, China for the inaugural HSBC Champions Tournament. With a star studded field attending for the biggest ever purse on the Asian continent of $5million, we should expect a cracking start to the season, where the world's top two players Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh will be teeing it up with Europe's best, including nine of the victorious 2004 European Ryder cup side, and winners from Australia, South Africa and Asia. Obviously Woods and Singh will dominate the market as they did for the Tour Championship last week, and as proved we were right to oppose them, and will be doing so again this week. Neither has won a professional event in China, and although Woods came second and Singh fourth last week, it was plain to see that Woods' driving of the ball was woeful and Singh's putting is costing him too many shots. Woods only mustered 37.5% in the driving accuracy statistics last week at East Lake, and this newly designed Sheshan Course in Shanghai will find Woods out with driving like that this week, with its tree-lined stature and water hazards on eleven of the holes. Likewise Singh could only achieve 44% in driving accuracy, and with his suspect putting we will again be looking to avoid Fiji's number one player. So where do we look for the winner outsides the best two players in the world.For my first selection I like the chances of the 2005 European order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie. Having just won his eight Order of Merit (OOM) title, Monty will be keen to get his quest for an unprecedented ninth title off to a fast start this week, and victory here will secure his berth in Ian Woosnam's 2006 Ryder cup side. The big Scot will be playing his fifth event in China this week, and will have fond memories of past events there as he has impressive figures of 31-6-6-WON in the country. Monty is in tremendous form at the moment with a victory at the Dunhill Links and four other top tens in his last six starts. He really should have won the Volvo Masters at one of his favourite courses, Valderrama two weeks ago, when he let slip what looked to be an unassailable lead in the third round, and then shot a poor final round 74, to let Paul McGinley jump into the winners enclosure. With Monty back to his best and his appetite both on and off the course refounded, I expect The Scotsman to be right at the top of the leaderboard come Sunday morning. For the second selection of the week, I will go for a huge priced runner in the shape of Stephen Dodd. The 39 year old from Barry in Wales, has had a Stella year in which he finished seventeeth in the OOM and earned over $1million euros, and gained not only his first European Tour victory, but his second too, defeating David Howell in a play-off for the Nissan Irish Open in May. Dodd's first Victory came in November 2004, when coincidentally in China, he beat Thomas Bjorn by three strokes to claim the Volvo China Open at Silport Golf Club, in his 166th attempt on the Tour. Many thought that might be a flash in the pan for the once described 'journeyman pro' but this wasn't the case as this season has proved, and confidence will be high as he returns to the place of his finest hour last year. After the victory in the Irish Open, Dodd faltered slightly, but has found some of the old sparkle again, as showed by an 18th place in the American Express Championship in California, and a fine 10th place finish in the Volvo Masters, and he will be looking to build on that good form this week, and get his season off to a solid start. Finally for my third pick I will look to Sweden's next big superstar Henrik Stenson.Stenson, like Dodd has had a remarkable season, finishing 8th on the OOM and earning over 1.5 million euro in the process. The 2000 Challenge Tour Champion has come on leaps and bounds this year, proving to many that his 2001 B&H Win at the Belfry was no fluke. Stenson was high in all the Reuters Categories for the season, 2nd GIR, 5th Stroke Average, 4th Driving Accuracy, and 17th Driving distance. The only aspect of his game that has stopped Henrik winning this year is his putting stats, which at over 30 putts per round languish him in 117th in this category. However, the less than pure surfaces he will face this week in China will compensate for that and I expect a huge show from the 29 year old. Stenson only visit to China, earlier this year at the Johnnie Walker Classic saw him finish 3rd behind Adam Scott and Retief Goosen, in what was a high class field. Stenson has posted nine top ten finishes this season, seveb of which have been 2nd or 3rd, and comes into the event with form figures of 2-3-3-19, the most impressive being his 3rd place finish behind Woods and Daly at the American Express Championship. Stenson will definitely win this year on Tour, and I hope it will be this week where everything points to good run for your money. Staking Plan:1pt E/W Colin Montgomerie 25/1 Hills1pt E/W Henrik Stenson 33/1Hills0.5 pts E/W Stephen Dodd 100/1 Sporting Odds&Hills