Pictured: sand.

Still air, sky-high temperatures and soft conditions appear to have a knack for producing low, low scoring. Who knew?

The first round of the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, held this year on Mission Hills’ Olazabal layout (the positively sprawling venue now boasts of 12 “championship” designs and a further 180 holes), yielded two rounds of 65, four of 66 and a further 20 that dipped below the (nominal) par of 72.

Not bad for a shortened field, even if it is one populated almost exclusively by the best and brightest of world golf (no Tiger or Rory, though: they’re the subjects of *sigh* another appearance fee controversy!). (continue reading…)

Francesco Molinari of Italy holds the Old Tom Morris Champions trophy

With the rest of the field too far back to pose a challenge, the final round was a thrilling duel between Francesco Molinari and Lee Westwood. Molinari led the WGC-HSBC Champions wire-to-wire, opening with a fantastic 65 on Thursday and holding his nerve against the newly-crowned world’s No. 1 to post a 67 on Sunday for a one-stroke victory at Shenshan International in Shanghai.

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Since Tiger Woods turned pro in 1996, he won a PGA Tour event in each of those 14 seasons — until this year. Woods’ streak will fall short of matching the record of 17 straight years with a win set by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. (Tiger has two tournaments left this year, but they don’t count as official PGA Tour events.)

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You see, the Chinese (still) love Tiger Woods. A group of fans wore tiger costumes and cheered for Tiger Woods on the first hole of the HSBC Champions. I have to ask — where did they get those tiger hats? FTW!

(AP Photo)