'13 World Cup Headed To Royal Melbourne
/We first learned of the possibility last month from Mark Hayes and now it's official: Royal Melbourne will be hosting the 2013 WGC World Cup a week after hosting the Australian Masters.
Bruce Young is understandably excited:
The likely scenario of the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast, the Australian Masters and the World Cup of Golf back to back at Royal Melbourne and the Australian Open at Royal Sydney all being held in the month of November could mean Australian golf has a summer along the lines we saw here two years ago when the Australian Open and PGA Championship benefited from the Presidents Cup ’being in town.’
**The press release which details the retro format that should be the Olympic golf format:
World Cup of Golf returns to Melbourne, Australia, in 2013
The Royal Melbourne Golf Club to host event week after Australian Masters
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., USA, and MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia (May 11/12, 2013) – The International Federation of PGA Tours, an organization of the top professional golf tours in the world that sanctions the World Golf Championships and the World Cup of Golf, is proud to join the State of Victoria and the International Golf Association in announcing that the 2013 World Cup of Golf will return to The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and will be played November 21-24.
The Royal Melbourne Golf Club, which hosted The Presidents Cup 2011, will host back-to-back events in November. The World Cup will be preceded on the calendar by the Australian Masters, which boasts Adam Scott as the defending champion.
The World Cup has been played three previous times in Australia, each at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club. The event was last played in Australia in 1988 as part of the nation’s bicentennial celebrations when the U.S. team of Ben Crenshaw and Mark McCumber defeated the Japanese team of Masashi (Jumbo) and Tateo Ozaki to win the tournament.
“It is an honour to host the World Cup and welcome another international golf event to Melbourne, home of great sporting events and, of course, the incredible Sandbelt region,” said Victorian Premier Dr. Denis Napthine. “Melbourne is the pride of Australia when it comes to major events, and we would argue rivals any city in the world in that regard. Today’s announcement is another exciting chapter for Melbourne, and we eagerly anticipate the World Cup in November, when we can once again showcase all that Victoria has to offer to the event’s players and fans.”
As part of the move, the event boasts an $8 million total purse and returns to an individual, stroke-play competition for $7 million, with a team component (adding the total scores of two-man teams) for $1 million. The qualification system for the event is similar to that which will be used in the Olympic Games, when golf returns to the program in 2016. The field will include 60 players (no cut), with eligibility taken from the Official World Golf Ranking. Up to four players can qualify, per country, if they are in the top 15 of the OWGR. 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 purpose of the Olympics, those four countries compete as Great Britain). Further, the Olympic Games golf competition will not feature a team component.
Yes we know.
