The final field for the 57th edition of the World Cup of Golf has been announced, with 17 of the world’s top-50 players committed to compete in the US$8 million tournament.
Australian pair – World No.1 Jason Day and No.7 Adam Scott – remain the highest ranked team among the 28 two-man teams who will descend on Melbourne’s Kingston Heath Golf Club from November 23-27.
The field includes six major championship winners; 27 Olympians; 18 past participants of either The Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup; four top-10 players, four past World Cup champions and two sets of brothers.
“I am excited to be representing my country alongside Jason, whose recent record shows why he is one of the most talented players in the game,” Scott said. “I love the fact that they put it back to its original format and that it’s a team event. For Jason and I to play at home as a team in front of our home crowd is tremendous. Hopefully we can defend!
“Playing alternate shot, Presidents Cup is the only time we play that format. That’s where we really have to strategize and gel as a team on that day. The field is looking good and the course is magnificent.
“It’s always nice to go home and to get to play golf at home in front of enthusiastic crowds. Aussie golf has been on a great run since the Presidents Cup in Australia. We have a lot of the best players coming every year. The younger top players have enjoyed Australia very much. Jason is the best player in the world, so I think we are in for a great tournament.”
England’s Danny Willett played in the last edition of the World Cup when it was played at Royal Melbourne in 2013. This time he returns to Melbourne as the reigning Masters Champion.
“It’s always great to represent your country. You don’t get the chance to do it too often so I’m excited about playing the World Cup,” Willett said.
“I was at Royal Melbourne in 2013, and although I didn’t play as well as I would’ve liked, it was a cracking course and I’ve heard Kingston Heath is just as good.
“It’s a different format this time so I’m really looking forward to playing with Westy [Lee Westwood]. He’s played in nine Ryder Cups and has unbelievable experience of foursomes and fourballs, so I couldn’t have picked a better partner.”
While Westwood is a Ryder Cup veteran, he makes his World Cup debut in Melbourne, just a few kilometres from Metropolitan GC where he beat Greg Norman in a play-off to win the 1997 Australian Open.
“I’ve been asked to represent England and I’m excited to play in the World Cup for the first time,” Westwood said. “I played a lot in Japan in the early days in my career when it was against the World Cup. Now the schedule is clear and I’ve got a great partner.
“If we can both play like we did at Augusta, then that will be fine! But it’s the World Cup, so there will be lots of really strong teams. I know Adam and Jason are playing together. I know there will be a good number of strong teams.
“I’m looking forward to it. I have never played Kingston Heath. It’s been a long time since I have been to Melbourne. I spoke to Billy (Foster, Westwood’s caddie) and he says it’s the best course down there. I’m very much looking forward to seeing it.”
The final field is …
AUSTRALIA Jason Day & Adam Scott
AUSTRIA Bernd Wiesberger & Martin Wiegele
BELGIUM Thomas Pieters & Nicolas Colsaerts
CANADA David Hearn & Graham DeLaet
CHINA Ashun Wu & Haotong Li
DENMARK Søren Kjeldsen & Thorbjørn Olesen
ENGLAND Danny Willett & Lee Westwood
FIJI Vijay Singh & Krishna Singh
FRANCE Victor Dubuisson & Romain Langasque
GERMANY Alex Cejka & Stephan Jaeger
INDIA SSP Chawrasia & S Chikarangappa
IRELAND Shane Lowry & Graeme McDowell (pictured right)ITALY Francesco Molinari & Matteo Manassero
JAPAN Hideki Matsuyama & Ryo Ishikawa
KOREA Byeong Hun An & K.T. Kim
NETHERLANDS Joost Luiten & Darius van Driel
NEW ZEALAND Danny Lee & Ryan Fox
PHILIPPINES Miguel Tabuena & Angelo Que
PORTUGAL Ricardo Gouveia & José-Filipe Lima
SCOTLAND Russell Knox & Duncan Stewart
SOUTH AFRICA Jaco Van Zyl & George Coetzee
SPAIN Rafa Cabrera Bello & Jon Rahm
SWEDEN Alex Noren & David Lingmerth
THAILAND Thongchai Jaidee & Kiradech Aphibarnrat
TAIPEI Cheng Tsung Pan & Chan Shih-chang
UNITED STATES Rickie Fowler & Jimmy Walker
VENEZUALA Jhonattan Vegas & Julio Vegas
WALES Jamie Donaldson & Bradley Dredge
The 2016 tournament will return to a 72-hole, stroke play, two-man team event format. The first and third days of competition will be the foursomes (alternate shot) format and the second and final days are fourball (best ball) play.
Tickets and hospitality packages starting at $30 are now available by visiting the World Cup of Golf website at www.WorldCupofGolf.com.
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