After a six-week break since his last tournament (a tie for 3rd in THE TOUR Championship in late September), Phil Mickelson will end his golfing year with two events in Asia. At this week’s HSBC Champions Tournament in Shanghai (China), Phil will try to defend the title he won last year in a playoff with Englishmen Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher after giving up a five-shot lead on the final day.

Mickelson will play the first two rounds with Ian Poulter (ENG) and India’s Jeev Milkha Singh. Even though there are only 67 players in the field this week (no cut) and Tiger Woods is not one of them, competition will be stiff for Phil. Among the professionals trying to take the HSBC Champions Tournament’s trophy from Phil are stars like Sergio Garcia, Robert Karlsson, Anthony Kim and Padraig Harrington.

A week later, Phil will tee it up at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore for the Barclays Singapore Open. The main reason for Phil’s presence in these two tournaments will be their main sponsors Barclays and HSBC - both companies are also two of Phil’s most important personal sponsors. However, it seems as if Phil is nowadays generally less reluctant when it comes to making the effort of playing in foreign countries. While he did only leave the PGA Tour for the British Open and the Ryder Cup during the early years of his career, he is now obviously looking to become somewhat of a global golfer and spread his wings to unknown territory in Asia and Europe.

I am really looking forward to seeing Mickelson play all over the world. Just look at players like Gary Player or Ernie Els and how popular they have become through their global presence. I am sure that Phil’s friendly character and great personality will win him even more fans overseas when they only get a chance to see him play.

Of course I will tell you all about Phil’s success in Asia in my next post – so stay with me.