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Graeme McDowell and Shane Lowry join players from around the world who won or contended at several events last week and tee it up at the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club this week.
China’s Liang Wen-chong won the Resorts World Manila Masters on the Asian Tour, Australia’s Adam Scott defeated Matt Kuchar (United States) and Vijay Singh (Fiji) at the Talisker Australian Masters and Japan’s Hideto Tanihara edged World Cup of Golf teammate Ryo Ishikawa on the Japan Golf Tour. All players mentioned above will represent their countries during the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf.
Liang’s third Asian Tour win was made even more significant as he decided to donate half of his total winnings to victims suffering from the aftermath of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan.
“Before coming over to the Philippines, I was really affected by what I saw of the damage and victims suffering from the aftermath of the Typhoon on television,” said Liang, who won US135,000 for his victory. “I’ve decided to donate 50 percent of my winnings to do my part and support the relief efforts.”
Scott began the final round at the Talisker Masters with a four-stroke lead over Singh. While Singh fell back on Sunday and eventually finished third, Kuchar made a push and at one point held the lead. A double bogey on the final hole proved to be too much to overcome for Kuchar as Scott ended with a two-stroke win to successfully defend his Talisker Masters title. Scott, who also won the Australian PGA Championship a week earlier, will go for his third consecutive victory in Australia this week.
The Japanese team also appears to be in top form heading into the World Cup of Golf. Tanihara, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Saturday, edged his World Cup teammate Ishikawa for his 10th Japan Golf Tour title with a victory at the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters. Ishikawa finished one stroke behind Tanihara in a tie for second with Tomohiro Kondo and Masahiro Kawamura.
First played in 1953, the World Cup is one of the oldest and most prestigious global golf team events in the world inviting two man teams from 28 nations to represent their country. The 2013 World Cup will be the 57th staging of this event, which has seen many greats of the game lift the prestigious trophy. The list of champions from the World Cup reads like a who’s who of golf. Great names such as Snead, Hogan, Nicklaus, Palmer, Trevino, Thomson, Faldo, Ballesteros, Langer, Woods, Els and Montgomerie have all been able to call themselves World Cup Champions.
The field represents 60 players from 34 countries with 13 of the top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking set to tee it up. The field for the 2013 ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf will be based on a similar system of eligibility and format to that which will be utilized when golf makes its return to the Olympic Games in 2016.
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