Golf legends are coming to Bradenton. Here are the latest World Champions Cup players picked
A national television audience will see The Concession Golf Club in a little more than two months.
The East Manatee golf course, which was co-designed by Tony Jacklin and Jack Nicklaus, is the host venue for the inaugural World Champions Cup.
In December, the PGA Champions Tour event will pit six players from the United States, Europe and Team International against each other in a stroke play team competition format.
On Tuesday at Jacksonville’s Timuquana Country Club, which is this week’s tour stop, three automatic qualifiers were announced.
Team USA captain Jim Furyk announced David Toms, a former PGA Championship winner, had qualified, while Team International captain Ernie Els said fellow South African and two-time U.S. Open winner Retief Goosen had joined his team.
Darren Clarke, who is captaining Europe, joined Tuesday’s press conference via Zoom to announce Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, who had five runner-ups in majors, made the inaugural European side.
“I don’t think you can put a value on just how competitive Colin is, especially when it comes to team events,” Clarke said. “He always wants to win, but there’s definitely a little more fire in him when he puts on the uniform to represent Europe, and I’m eager to see that competitive spirit return in the World Champions Cup this December.”
Montgomerie previously played in eight Ryder Cups and never lost a singles match. He joins Bernhard Langer, who previously was announced as an automatic qualifier, for Clarke’s team.
Clarke, Els and Furyk are playing captains in the event. The annual three-team tournament is contested over nine holes with points earned for each hole won across 24 total matches. The highest point total at the end is crowned the champion.
Teams will compete in Scotch sixsomes on Thursday, Dec. 7 and Friday, Dec. 8. A Scotch format is when both players on a team hit their drives, then select the best one and play alternate shot until the ball is holed. On Saturday, Dec. 9, the event will have a pro-am day with Sunday, Dec. 10 wrapping up the competition with singles matches.
Unlike the Ryder Cup, President’s Cup or Solheim Cup, there are no close outs as it’s stroke play. So each match will go the full distance of nine holes.
“So everybody stays in it, everybody plays for nine holes, nobody gets eliminated,” Els said. “If you, say you go down three holes or something like that, you still play out and you have a chance to redeem yourself as a team. You can have a strong finish and win some points at the end of the nine holes and get with it if you’re a little bit behind.”
Tickets are on sale at www.WorldChampionsCup.com with prices starting at $40 per day and increasing the week before the tournament. ABC and ESPN will broadcast the tournament’s action on Dec. 7, 8 and 10.
Players previously announced for each team include: Steve Stricker (USA), Bernhard Langer (Europe) and Vijay Singh (International). The remaining players for each team are chosen through two chairman’s picks. Former seven-time PGA Tour winner Peter Jacobsen is the inaugural tournament chairman. And the final selections are the highest-ranked players in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup standings that have not previously qualified.
