WGC-HSBC Champions first round tee times, TV schedule, and how to watch live online

The WGC-HSBC Champions event is one of the highlights of the silly season or dead period from October through December. It’s the fourth and final WGC event of the year, and the only one that’s played outside the United States, settling in at Sheshan International in Shanghai.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Rory McIlroy are some of the bigger names who have played in this event before but are taking a pass this year. With all the cash and world ranking points that come with a WGC tournament, however, the field is still pretty loaded and definitely the best in the PGA Tour’s “fall series” or wraparound schedule. Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia, and Martin Kaymer are just a few of the big names, and recent major winners, playing in Shanghai this week.

The tournament got the official WGC designation in 2009, but it was already drawing big names, sometimes with appearance fees, prior to becoming a World Golf Championship. It’s come to be unofficially known as “Asia’s major,” mixing in a field of PGA Tour and Euro Tour regulars on a spot in the calendar where both those tours have events scattered throughout Asia in an attempt to grow the game and their presence in those markets. The HSBC Champions generally produces a big name winner with Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Mickelson and Kaymer some of the recent champs.

For most of these top players, this is the first and only tournament they will play during the PGA Tour’s fall series. Some will patronize Tiger’s World Challenge event in a month, but that’s not an official tournament with FedExCup points available. So this is really one of the rare events where you can watch a world class field during the fall and winter months. The PGA Tour will have an opposite field event in Mississippi this week with those who didn’t qualify for the final lucrative WGC, which is also an official Euro Tour event. That’s the more typical fall series tournament with a full field teeing it up at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Justin Rose is the favorite in Shanghai at 11/1 followed by Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia at 16/1. The $8.5 million purse, which all WGC tourneys posted this year, is the biggest purse on the PGA Tour outside of the majors and Players. As usual with these WGC events, there’s a limited field so there will be ample room to schedule tee times and get the players through 18 holes each day. They’ll be off split tees in groups of three on Thursday. Here’s the full tee sheet for the first round, which will start Wednesday night ET in the United States (all times ET):

The unique and nice thing about this spot on the calendar with several events in Asia is the primetime and middle-of-the-night viewing back in the States. As they did last week in Kuala Lumpur, Golf Channel will have full coverage all four days, coming on the air at 10 p.m. each night and carrying the broadcast until 3 a.m. the following day. Here’s how to watch Thursday’s first round:

10 p.m. Wednesday to 3 a.m. Thursday -- Golf Channel