WGC HSBC Champions 2015: Tee times, pairings for Thursday’s round in China

November is just about the quietest month in golf, with one major exception -- the last WGC event of the calendar year. The four WGC events always draw the biggest names from the top of the world rankings, but the WGC-HSBC Champions event stands apart from the other three. It’s the only one not in the United States, falls during a dead time for most golfers, and draws a mixed and more global field. It’s not guaranteed to get every big name -- Tiger stopped playing even when he was exempt -- but this year it’s loaded with just about every top player you’d want patronizing the Sheshan International Golf Club in China.

The stretch from early October through the end of the year is affectionately known as the “silly season” in golf. That’s changed a little bit with the PGA Tour instituting its “wraparound schedule” of seven events with full FedExCup points allotments that count towards 2016. But this is still the time of year when the world-class players pick and choose a variety of charity games and appearances, rarely play on Tour, and travel the world to collect some appearance fees and promote their “brand” and the game.

So you get events scattered throughout Australia and Asia that attract some top players, both Euros and Americans, that do not get over to that part of the world the rest of the year. That creates notable primetime, and overnight, golf opportunities back in the States. The WGC-HSBC Champions is maybe the highlight primetime event. The first tee time goes off just before 8 p.m. ET Wednesday back in the U.S. and the last big group, which features Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy, should finish up around 2:15 a.m. ET on Thursday.

The WGCs are always limited-field no-cut events with most of the top 50 in the world and almost every tee time has one or two elite players you’d want to watch. As I noted above, this one is a little different from the three in the States but with all the free world ranking points and the sizable guaranteed paycheck, it still draws most of the best. Four of the top five in the world are here (only Jason Day is absent) and the Tour made the obvious move of pairing them all together. The two marquee groups:

8:45 p.m. ET Weds -- Jordan Spieth / Bubba Watson / Henrik Stenson

Spieth has committed to play in Australia again, which is really where he’ll tell you his run to that legendary 2015 season started. But aside from that, this is about all we’ll see from the Player of the Year in this final quarter. His game was as good as ever in the Presidents Cup back in mid-October and I would not expect much change in China. He’s on unfamiliar ground but he’s still the favorite. Spieth will play the first two rounds with defending champ Bubba Watson and Henrik Stenson, his primary challenger for the FedExCup in that final round back in Atlanta.

9:45 p.m. ET Weds -- Rory McIlroy / Rickie Fowler / Dustin Johnson

Everybody always wants to watch Spieth, but in my opinion, this is the marquee group on the entire tee sheet. For those who have followed the game closely, McIlroy is still the top talent. But this has been an underwhelming and disappointing year, which included the injury that wiped out much of his summer. Rory will admit as much and at times, he’s looked not just frustrated, but also disinterested, especially in recent months as Day and Spieth exchanged blows at the top and left him as an afterthought. Rory is playing a slate of Euro Tour events in this final quarter and has said he’s using it as an opportunity to re-assert his place heading into next year. This is the biggest stage and deepest field to do that.

Golf Channel will be live at 10 p.m. ET back in the U.S. on Wednesday night with the coverage window scheduled to run until 3 a.m. ET on Thursday. Unless there’s a weather delay, I would expect the round to finish well before that -- these WGCs usually run smoothly (the rounds at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational are routinely under four hours).

Here’s the full tee sheet for the first round (all times Wednesday ET):