ENGLAND'S Tommy Fleetwood believes he has some "unfinished business" in the Shenzhen International as he bids to win a second European Tour title.
Fleetwood finished third at Genzon Golf Club 12 months ago, missing out on the play-off between Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Chinese teenager Li Hao-tong by a single shot.
"Last year hurt," former Challenge Tour winner Fleetwood said.
"I played brilliantly here last year and felt like I should have won by a few. I ended up needing birdie on the last to win, made par and lost out by one, and it hurt a lot. So I do feel like there might be a bit of unfinished business. But you never know how you're going to play, and obviously each week is different. Just because I played well for two years doesn't mean I'm going to play well this week. But I think after last year, when I felt like I should have won it, it would be nice to come back and actually finish it off."
Fleetwood won his maiden European Tour title in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in 2013 and was tipped as an outsider to make the European Ryder Cup team at the same venue the following year.
The 25-year-old has so far been unable to get back into the winner's circle, finishing second three times in 2014 - including in back-to-back events - and recording three top-six finishes last season. But the former English Amateur champion believes he can take inspiration from fellow Englishman Danny Willett following the world number nine's Masters triumph: "Danny has done a phenomenal job of making himself a top-10 player in the world and a major winner," Fleetwood added.
"And whatever he's done, you should look at and you should try and do the same - however he practises, however he structures his life. It's definitely something everybody should look at because he's done amazingly well."
Aphibarnrat is confident of putting up a staunch defence of the title he won in brilliant style last year, after a closing 67 from Li looked set to make the 19-year-old the first Chinese winner of a European Tour event on home soil.
Overnight leader Aphibarnrat was two shots behind with two holes to play, only to hole from 18 feet for an eagle on the 17th and then miss from 12 feet for what would have been a winning birdie on the last.
The players returned to the 18th for the play-off and Aphibarnrat completed victory in style, hitting his approach to virtually the same place as he had in regulation and this time holing the birdie putt after Li had missed from long range.
"It's an honour to be back here in Shenzhen," said the 26-year-old, who finished 15th on his Masters debut earlier this month.
"It's been great so far and I always look forward to defending my title. I'm so happy to see my name on the trophy here in the clubhouse. Maybe I can make sure my name is still the only one on that trophy by the end of this week.
"I think this event last year was a real turning point with my game. This win gave me a lot of confidence and got me ready and fired up for the rest of the season. It's a top field this week, but my form is good and I've been striking the ball well. I have good memories of what happened last year, so it will be tough for the other players to take the title away from me."
Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson has returned to Shenzhen for the second staging of the event and hopes a week off after Augusta will pay dividends: "My game feels good," said the world number four, who was 29th last year.
"This week, it's a tough test, but hopefully I can perform better than last year. Coming from the Masters straight to this event last year, the energy levels, also the putting, were different to this year. So I hope I'm better prepared and I have a better shot on Sunday to move way up the leaderboard and have a chance to win instead of being really far back like I was last year."
