Australia has scored another huge summer of golf with a host of major international stars sure to head this way, attracted by a revamped $US8 million World Cup to be played at Royal Melbourne in November.
The biennial tournament has been held in China in recent years, but will return to Australia for the fourth time – the first since 1988 – when staged on November 21-24.
That means it falls the week after the Australia Masters in Melbourne and the week before the Australian Open at Royal Sydney.
And Australian golf officials now have a golden opportunity to secure some of world golf’s biggest names to play alongside the country’s new Masters champion Adam Scott in those events, plus the Australian PGA Championship which is two weeks before the World Cup.
“This is a great day for golf and a great day for Australia,” said PGA of Australia chief executive Brian Thorburn.
“The addition of the World Cup will complement an already strong swing of tournaments including the Australian PGA, Open and Masters and will significantly boost the international player prospects for these events.”
The effect should be similar to when the biennial Presidents Cup battle between the United States and the Internationals was played at Royal Melbourne in 2011 and many of the stars from that event also played some of the adjacent Australian events.
The 60-year-old World Cup had lost much of its early lustre, as a two-man team event pitting nation against nation, with many of the world’s best players ignoring it in more recent times.
But the revamp with the huge purse, new format – reverting to an individual competition for $US7 million of the prizemoney in a 60-man field with no cut – and the world ranking points it’ll offer ensure it will be a big lure.
It’ll put the tournament on a similar level to the World Golf Championship series tournaments which attract the world’s top ranked players.
The World Cup could provide an early taste of golf’s return to the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 as the qualification system will be similar.
Eligibility to play in the 60-man field will be based on the world golf rankings.
Up to four players can qualify per country, if they are in the top 15 of the world rankings – so there can be more than just the top two Americans.
Beyond No.15, up to a maximum of two players per country can qualify.
If two or more players from a country qualify, then the country is eligible for team competition, with the top-two players comprising the qualified team.
The major difference between the World Cup qualification model and that of the Olympic golf competition is that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will each be considered a separate country – for the Olympics, those four countries compete as Great Britain.
Each of the previous three World Cups in Australia were also played at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the last in 1988 won by the US team of Ben Crenshaw and Mark McCumber from the Japanese team of Jumbo and Tateo Ozaki.
