YE Yang Heads The Field at the China Open

YE Yang hasn’t won on a major tour in a year since he took down the 2010 Volvo China Open and now he returns to Chengdu looking to repeat his performance of a year ago.

Yang will be teeing it up on the European Tour this week for the first time this season and, thus, will face some different challengers after spending his entire season in America.

However, Yang won’t be phased as he’s competed well against the world’s best ever since beating Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA Championship.  The Korean has already posted two strong results this year finishing 5th at the Accenture Match Play then followed that up with a 2nd at the Honda Classic.

It will be a formidable task for anyone to challenge Yang if he’s on his game, especially on a track where he’s already got that winning feeling.

Sergio Garcia has plummeted all the way to 73rd in the world, as his game has struggled mightily over the last couple seasons.

Garcia did finally post a top-10 finishing 9th at the Qatar Masters in early February and he also had a decent opening two rounds at Augusta where he was 2-under thru 36 holes, but then proceeded to stumble to the finish.

Seeing as he has had some relatively promising results lately, it’s not completely outlandish that he might contend in a weak field in China.

Padraig Harrington comes into China having missed the cut at the Masters.  A tough week for the Irishman, but he has posted some positive finishes in the last month with two top-10’s on the PGA Tour.

He finished 8th at the Houston Classic, the week before the Masters, in a tournament ultimately won by Phil Mickelson and posted a 10th at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

Harrington’s game hasn’t fallen nearly as far as Garcia’s and he certainly should be considered as a vet that could take advantage of this green field.

A longshot that may be getting ready to contend is 107th ranked Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello who already has three top-10’s on the European Tour in 2011.

He’s competed well in high level fields at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship where he finished 7th and then at the Qatar Masters where he came in 3rd behind Thomas Bjorn and Alvaro Quiros.

Eighteen holes of match or medal play will teach you more about your foe than will 18 years of dealing with him across a desk    - Grantland Rice