WGC-HSBC Recap: McIlroy Wins for Fourth Time in 2019

While much of the United States was asleep Saturday night into Sunday morning, two remarkable stories emerged from the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai. One up, one down.

1) Rory McIlroy won for the fourth time in 2019 to continue his hard charge back toward No. 1 in the world rankings.

2) Phil Mickelson made a charge of his own on Sunday. It just wasn't enough. Mickelson shot a 4-under 68 that moved him into a tie for 28th, though when the Official World Golf Rankings are officially released on Monday morning, he will not be in the top-50, ending an unfathomable 26-year run.

First, McIlroy.

In a riveting duel half a world away, McIlroy defeated Xander Schauffele on the first playoff hole, adding to remarkable run this year that has moved him to within shouting distance of world No. 1 Brooks Koepka.

It was the type of pressure-filled scenario against another world-class player that has been McIlroy's undoing the past few years. Schauffele delivered a gutty birdie on the 72nd hole to force the playoff. No matter, McIlroy went right back to the tee on the par-5 18th at Sheshan International, piped one down the middle, landed his approach on the green and two-putted for a quick knockout.

This was the third big win of the year for McIlroy, adding to The PLAYERS and the Tour Championship (plus the Canadian Open). He really seems primed to win another major for the first time since 2014 (yeah, we know, you've heard that one before – and you have a point).

McIlroy is now within 1.08 OWGR points of Koepka, but will not be able to overtake him by year's end, according to noted OWGR expert @VC606 on Twitter. McIlroy likely has one tournament left this year, the season-ending DP World Tour championship in Dubai, but not even a win would garner enough OWGR points.

Still, with McIlroy ascending and Koepka enduring a knee injury of some degree, a change could come early next year.

Now, Mickelson.

With Shugo Imahira finishing runner-up at a tournament in Japan, he will move from 53rd to 50th in the rankings, bumping Mickelson to 51st.

It is the first time since November 1993 that Mickelson has been outside the top-50. He came close to falling outside early last year, but earned a reprieve the next week with a top-five in Phoenix. Then Mickelson surprisingly won at Pebble Beach back in January, moving all the way up to 17th. Which tells you how poorly he has played since then, to fall so far so fast.

"I just haven't played well. Just had a lot of stuff going on, and I just haven't been really focused and into the mental side," Mickelson said on Sunday, according to Golf Channel. "I haven't seen good, clear pictures. I haven't been as committed and as connected to the target. I just haven't been mentally as sharp the last six, eight months."

That does not sound encouraging.

Alas, another remarkable streak of Mickelson's will end this week, when he almost assuredly will be bypassed for a Presidents Cup captain's pick. He has played in 24 consecutive international competitions – Ryder or Presidents Cup – last missing in 1993, the same year his OWGR streak began.

One last note about 1993: Three players currently in the top-50 – Jon Rahm, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Sungjae Im – were not even born then.

Oh, Phil.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Xander Schauffele
Schauffele was said to be battling a cold or the flu all week, making his runner-up showing all the more impressive. It barely bears repeating at this point that Schauffele turns up on the first page of the leaderboard time after time in big tournaments. Really, all that's left is a major, and it would surprise no one if that came in 2020.

Matthew Fitzpatrick
On the bright side, Fitzpatrick's solo seventh moved him up two spots in the world rankings to No. 25, cracking the top-25 for the first time in his career. But finishing seventh when you had a share of the lead on the front-nine on Sunday … not so good. The Englishman has five European Tour wins in his young career and even had a runner-up at Bay Hill last year. We will continue to see more of Fitzpatrick in the States this year, and we really should see a win very soon. But until we see that first PGA Tour win, we will have reservations about Fitzpatrick's ability to close the deal.

Abraham Ancer
Since finishing as runner-up at the first playoff event, the Northern Trust, Ancer went into a bit of a tailspin. He didn't so much as crack the top-25 in his next six starts, with two missed cuts. But Ancer tied for fourth in Shanghai. He is now up to a career-best 35th in the world, and it's now apparent that his surprise emergence in the top-50 earlier this year was no fluke. It's hard to turn to a player in DFS (or anywhere) coming off six poor tournaments, but Ancer just showed us what a small sample size that really is. A lesson for us.

Victor Perez
Many U.S. golf fans got their first real look at Perez this past week. But expect to see lots more of the Frenchman. Perez tied for fourth in his first elite tournament – he's never been in a major. A bit of a late bloomer who only recently turned 27, Perez won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship a month ago for his first European Tour title. With the top-five in Shanghai, Perez will move into the top-60 in the world rankings. So we should be seeing him climb into the top-50 in short order and begin appearing more regularly in the bigger events. Fun Perez factoid: He attended the University of New Mexico from 2011-15.

Matthias Schwab
The Austrian is another Euro-centric golfer not familiar to many fans of the PGA Tour. Schwab also tied for fourth in Shanghai. He is only 24, turned pro just two years ago and has yet to win. But he has been on a tear since late summer, now with five top-10s in his past eight starts, including a runner-up in Germany. He already has 13 career top-10s. Schwab is now just outside the top-100 in the world but, like Perez, it seems only a matter of time before we see him regularly in the top tournaments. Fun Schwab factoid: He attended Vanderbilt University.

Paul Waring
One more little-known European: Waring is an Englishman, but unlike Perez and Schwab, he's been around for a long time. He's 34 and his tie for eighth in Shanghai will move him to 80th in the world. Waring has won only once, but it came in the 2018 Nordea Masters, and three of his four best career results have come in the past two years. So there appears to be a career renaissance of sorts.

Patrick Reed
Reed had one final chance to make his pitch to be a Presidents Cup captain's pick, though it would be a stunner if he hadn't locked up one of the four spots in Tiger Woods' mind long ago. Nonetheless, Reed climbed the Sheshan leaderboard on Sunday and wound up tied for eighth, moving up to No. 15 OWGR. He really has turned things around since his coaching switch to David Leadbetter earlier this year. Reed has made 19 straight cuts (we know there was no cut in Shanghai), with 10 top-20s in his past 13 starts. That of course includes a win at the Northern Trust in August. When Woods makes his announcement live on Golf Channel on Thursday, expect to hear Reed's name called.

Hideki Matsuyama
Matsuyama tied for 11th in Shanghai, and that's a lot better than we expected. He was coming off an emotional and pressure-filled a week in which he finished second behind Tiger Woods in Japan's first PGA Tour event. It would have been very easy and understandable for Matsuyama to simply exhale in Shanghai, take his guaranteed check for playing four rounds and head home. He did have a bad Thursday (75), but after that he played three rounds in the 60s. Impressive. With the high finish, Matsuyama moves up to 20th in the world for the first time in more than a year. Who knows, he could make a real bid to get back in the top-10 in 2020.

Jordan Spieth
Spieth failed to break 70 all four days and limped home with a tie for 43rd. He's now down to No. 42 in the world, and it appears his stay in the top-50 will be significantly shorter than Mickelson's, by about two decades.