Global audience to see international team competition – Eight Ryder Cup players included in the teams
(Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA) — The 18 exempt nations, along with the players representing the host nation, for the 2006 World Golf Championships-Barbados World Cup have been announced.
The US$4 million event, which features two-man teams from 24 nations around the globe, will be held December 7-10 at Sandy Lane Resort’s Country Club Course in Saint James, Barbados. The Barbados World Cup, which will be broadcast worldwide to more than 140 nations with a potential audience of 220 million homes, will receive 12 hours of coverage in the United States on ESPN and ABC.
The Barbados World Cup field features a number of players who have represented their countries in recent international team competitions. There are eight players who competed last week in the Ryder Cup, including England’s Luke Donald and David Howell; Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley of Ireland; Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie; Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Stewart Cink and J.J. Henry of the United States.
In addition, five players in the field competed in the most recent Presidents Cup competition. Included in this list are Angel Cabrera of Argentina, Mark Hensby of Australia, Canada’s Mike Weir, Tim Clark of South Africa and Cink.
Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd of Wales are the defending champions and will be back to defend the title they won last year at the Victoria Clube de Golfe in the Algrave region of Portugal. Their victory was the first by Wales in the competition since 1987.
England, represented by Donald and Howell will attempt to recreate their strong play of the past two years. In 2004, Donald and Paul Casey won the John Hopkins trophy in Sevilla, Spain, and Donald and Howell finished runner up to Wales last year in Portugal.
Ireland will again be represented by Harrington and McGinley for the 11th consecutive year. The 1997 World Cup of Golf champions have four top-10 finishes in six playings as a World Golf Championships event.
The United States, which has won this competition a record 23 times, will be represented by four-time PGA TOUR winner, Cink and Henry, the world’s 37th-ranked player.
Players qualified for this year’s World Cup by virtue of their standings in the Official World Golf Ranking as of Sept. 11. The highest-ranked available players representing 18 countries automatically qualified for the event.
The host nation of Barbados will be represented by Roger Beale Jr. and James Johnson. This will mark Barbados’ first appearance in the event since it became a part of the World Golf Championships series in 2000.
This will be the first time a World Golf Championships event, including the historic World Cup, has been played in Barbados, and only the third time it has been held in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico was the host of the 1961 and 1994 World Cups.
The Hon. Noel Lynch, Minister of Tourism, commented: "We are delighted with the announcement of the teams and to have so many Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup players competing. Hosting the World Cup in Barbados is all about showcasing our beautiful Island on television internationally. The network coverage on ABC and ESPN in the USA and the coverage in a further 140 countries assures us of that. It will be the biggest televised event Barbados has ever hosted until the World Cup of Cricket next year"
The following are the 18 exempt nations and the team representing Barbados listed alphabetically:
Argentina (Angel Cabrera/Andres Romero)
Australia (Mark Hensby/John Senden)
Barbados (Roger Beale, Jr. /James Johnson)
Canada (Mike Weir/Jim Rutledge)
Colombia (Camilo Villegas/Manuel Merizalde )
Denmark (Thomas Bjorn/Soren Hansen)
England (Luke Donald/David Howell)
France (Raphael Jacquelin/Jean Van De Velde)
Germany (Bernhard Langer/Marcel Siem)
Ireland (Padraig Harrington/Paul McGinley)
Japan (Toru Taniguchi/partner TBA)
Scotland (Colin Montgomerie/Marc Warren)
South Africa (Tim Clark/Rory Sabbatini)
South Korea (S.K. Ho/Charlie Wi)
Spain (Miguel Angel Jimenez/Gonzalo Fernandez))
Sweden (Henrik Stenson/Carl Pettersson )
Trinidad & Tobago (Stephen Ames/Robert Ames)
United States (Stewart Cink/J.J. Henry)
Wales (Stephen Dodd/Bradley Dredge)
Singapore and Italy both qualified at the Nations Cup qualifier, Sept. 13-16 at Seri Selangor Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur.
Singapore (Mardan Marmat/Lam Chih Bing)
Italy (Francesco Molinari/Emanuele Canonica)
The final three teams will be determined this week at the Nations Cup qualifier at Tierra del Sol Golf Club in Aruba.
ABOUT THE WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS-BARBADOS WORLD CUP
This year marks the 52nd playing of the World Golf Championships-Barbados World Cup, and its seventh as part of the World Golf Championships series. The Barbados World Cup is one of four World Golf Championships, which are sanctioned and organized by the International Federation of PGA Tours, which includes the Asian Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA TOUR, PGA Tour of Australasia and Southern Africa Tour. The three other World Golf Championships are the Accenture Match Play Championship, American Express Championship and Bridgestone Invitational. For more information, please visit www.worldgolfchampionships.com.
ABOUT BARBADOS
Barbados is one of the most desirable holiday destinations in the world, which attracts the rich and famous from sport, entertainment and business.
Drawn by the luxurious hotels and villas, Barbados is home-from-home for many who love the beauty of the island, the friendliness of the Barbadian people, the multitude of activities and the great entertainment.
As a nation renowned for its love of sport, golf is played with a passion. The island’s four 18-hole courses are designer gems – two at Sandy Lane by Tom Fazio, one at Royal Westmoreland by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and the fourth at Barbados Golf Club by Ron Kirby. With two additional nine-hole courses to play on and a further two 18-hole courses under development, Barbados is a golfer’s paradise.
Barbados also has gastronomic appeal to food-lovers. As the first and only Caribbean destination to be Zagat surveyed, this famous restaurant guide shows the quality, diversity and range of dining on the island.
With world-class accommodation, world-class food, world-class events and world-class service it’s easy to understand why people return to Barbados time and time again. There’s a saying that ‘it doesn’t get better than Barbados’ and for the many visitors to the island each year, it really doesn’t.
Contact:
James Cramer
Director, Public Relations, PGA TOUR
Phone: 904-273-3293 Fax: 904-273-3582
E-mail: jcramer@pgatourhq.com
Melanie Brandman
The Brandman Agency
Phone: 212-683-2442 Fax: 212-683-2022
E-mail: Melanie@brandmanpr.com