European Ryder Cup team member Paul Casey's final act before turning his focus 100% towards this week's clash in Kentucky has been to claim his place in the 2008 HSBC Champions field in November.
The 31-year-old Englishman has announced his intention to join Ryder Cup team-mates Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson and Ryder Cup rival and defending champion Phil Mickelson at Shanghai's Sheshan International Golf Club for the US$5 million tournament from November 6th to 9th.
Casey, whose confirmation for the HSBC Champions arrived together with that of Asia's number one golfer KJ Choi, has also agreed to join the Korean superstar in Hong Kong on October 14th. The pair will be there to help the world's local bank raise money for UNICEF's programme to provide temporary education facilities in the Sichuan earthquake zone.
"This is the last piece of 'business' for me before I bury myself mentally, physically and emotionally in the Ryder Cup. It's going to be a huge week, but it's important when you come out of something this big to have the next goals ready and in place," said Casey, who has never missed an HSBC Champions tournament and who qualifies this year through being ranked in the world's top 50.
"The HSBC Champions is a world-class event and is going to be one of my key targets for the final part of the year. It's something to look forward to and to focus on when it comes to re-energising myself after what is going to be a very draining week," he explained.
Casey revealed that regardless of what happens in Valhalla, he has unfinished business in 2008, because, despite top ten finishes in the Open Championship and in two of the year's WGC events, he won't be completely happy without an individual win to his name.
The omens are good. He's never finished outside the top 10 in the three previous editions of the HSBC Champions - finishing ninth last year, sixth the year before and seventh in 2005 – and two of his nine professional victories have come in China, at the 2005 TCL Classic and the 2006 Volvo China Open.
"I've got a good record at Sheshan and a great history in China and the winter is going to feel a lot warmer if I can get a win to finish the calendar year. It's been an okay year for me, but another Ryder Cup victory and a win in the HSBC Champions would turn it into a great one," he declared.
Choi, the world number 16, also takes his place in a star-studded HSBC Champions field that already includes the world's top five active golfers. The first Korean ever to earn playing rights on the PGA Tour, earlier this year he recorded his seventh victory in the States. Immediately after his win in the 2008 Sony Open in Hawaii he donated US$320,000 of his earnings to the families of victims of a warehouse fire in Seoul, which claimed over 40 lives.
"It's important to me to remember what a privileged life golf has given me and to do what little I can to help those who are suffering," said Choi, who, like Casey, is an ever-present at the HSBC Champions with a highest finish of 9th behind his compatriot Yong-Eun Yang in 2006..
"The earthquake in Sichuan was of a scale that I can hardly begin to understand and it's easy to forget that the rebuilding of people's lives is a long-term process. I'll be going to Hong Kong to help HSBC raise money for UNICEF's work in Sichuan and to remind everyone that help is still needed there. The money will be used for temporary classrooms and for books and other urgently-needed educational supplies."
Choi and Casey will be playing with HSBC's customers at Hong Kong's picturesque Kau Sai Chau island course, while encouraging them to support UNICEF's programme in Sichuan, and engaging in the unveiling of a unique vehicle to highlight the charity's initiatives.
The HSBC Champions' unique qualifying format brings tournament winners from around the world together to compete alongside the World's Top 50 leading players. The HSBC Champions is the first tournament on the European Tour Schedule and is the first counting event for the Race to Dubai, the re-named European Tour Order of Merit.
Since it's inception in 2005 the HSBC Champions prize fund of US$5 million has consistently been the largest on offer in Asia and matches the highest on offer in 2008. The event is co-sanctioned by The European Tour, Asian Tour, and the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Sunshine (Southern Africa) Tour, and the China Golf Association. A new qualifying criteria now allows the inclusion of past Champions from the previous three years ensuring the inaugural winner, England's David Howell, and Korea's Yong-eun Yang, are assured of a place in the line-up this year.
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