(SHENZHEN, China) – Mission Hills Golf Club – the world’s largest collection of premier golf courses with 12 layouts designed by golf’s greatest icons and course architects – celebrated the opening of the 2009 Omega Mission Hills World Cup on Wednesday, marking the 55th edition of golf’s most prestigious team competition.
Mission Hills’ renowned Olazabal Course hosts 28 nations, including three of the world’s top 10 players, vying for $5.5 million in prize money. Eighteen of these two-man teams were selected based on the Official World Golf Rankings and another nine advanced through regional qualifiers. Qualifiers were held this Fall in Asia, South America and Europe. China, as host nation, rounds out the field. The first and third days of the World Cup are four-ball (better-ball) format, while the second and fourth are foursomes (alternate shot).
In observance of the tournament’s long and storied tradition, the 28 national teams paraded out onto the 18th hole of Mission Hills’ Olazabal Course led by 2008 champions Sweden and trailed by Team China.
Prominent Chinese and foreign figures from sports, industry and politics participated in the opening ceremony, including Dr. David Chu, Founder and Chairman of the Mission Hills Golf Club; Mr. Stephen Urquhart, President of Omega; Mr. Keith Waters, Director of International Policy, European Tour; Mr. Jon Linen, Chairman of the International Golf Association; and Mr. Cui Dalin, Vice Minister for the General Administration of Sport in China. The first event in Asia to be sanctioned by all major international golf tours, members of the PGA TOUR, Tour de las Americas, Asian Tour, PGA Tour Australasia, Sunshine Tour and Japan Golf Tour also attended the opening ceremony.
Dr. Chu, who was recently honored with the creation and bestowal of a PGA TOUR award in his name in recognition for his extraordinary efforts to grow the game of golf in China and throughout the world, said that “the 2009 Omega Mission Hills World Cup continues this proud tradition of bringing together participants from diverse races and cultural backgrounds and providing a platform for players from underdeveloped golf regions to measure their skills against the world’s best. Mission Hills is proud to host this prestigious tournament for the next decade, as we share its goal of promoting goodwill among nations through golf.”
This year’s field features a colorful mix of both non-traditional golf nations such as Pakistan and Brazil, as well as those that have typically been strong at the sport. Last year’s champions Henrik Stenson, the 2009 PLAYERS Champion, and 2008 Order of Merit Winner Robert Karlsson have returned to defend the title for Sweden, but are expected to face stiff competition from reigning PGA Champion Y.E. Yang of South Korea, Spain’s Sergio Garcia, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and England’s Ian Poulter.
This year’s edition marks the fourth time Mission Hills will host the tournament and the third consecutive year since the club secured an unprecedented deal to become the long-term home of the World Cup of Golf through 2018. Mission Hills first hosted the World Cup in 1995, when the tournament made history as the first international golf tournament to be hosted in China and broadcasted live across the country.
Beginning as the Canada Cup in 1953 before being renamed as the World Cup in 1967, the event was founded by industrialist John Jay Hopkins to promote goodwill through golf. Some of the sport’s greatest players have enjoyed World Cup success over the years, including Jack Nicklaus (a six-time winner), Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Tiger Woods.
Omega Mission Hills World Cup: Golf’s Olympics (Until 2016):
The International Olympic Committee’s recent decision to officially welcome golf into the Olympics was cause for celebration. For the first time since 1904, golfers can realize the dream of winning a gold medal for their homeland. The announcement promises to speed the game’s growth around the world, as countries like China, Russia and India will now fund development programs to cultivate future generations of Olympic golf champions.
Although the Rio de Janeiro Games are seven years away, for 55 years golf’s calendar has included an event in which competitors from every corner of the globe battle for the honor of country: the Omega Mission Hills World Cup.
Contested at the world’s largest golf club, China’s 12-course Mission Hills, the Omega Mission Hills World Cup is currently golf’s closest approximation to the Olympics.
Here are a few “fast facts” highlighting the similarities:
o The Omega Mission Hills World Cup is the only professional golf event where nations qualify based on the play of their citizens.
o Founded by Canadian industrialist John Jay Hopkins in 1954 to promote international goodwill through golf, the World Cup shares the Olympics’ vision of using sports to bridge cultural, ethnic and geopolitical divides.
o The World Cup’s two-man teams hail from 28 countries. Some enjoy storied golf histories (like the United States and England), while others are relative newcomers to the sport (like Pakistan and Brazil). The event gives all competitors a chance to compete with level footing on the world stage.
o Participants march in an Opening Ceremony. Flags are raised and national anthems played differentiating the World Cup from the typical professional tournament.
o Partners are encouraged to wear matching outfits in the colors of their flag, further promoting the World Cup as a competition for love of country.
“Golfers may now dream of marching in the Olympic opening ceremony and winning medals for their country. Thanks to the World Cup’s founding principle – to cultivate the game around the world as a means of generating unity and international goodwill – it can claim shared credit in the sport’s global standing today,” says Dr. David Chu, Founder and Chairman of Mission Hills Group.
The World Cup of Golf: Fueling China’s Golf Development
Mission Hills first hosted the World Cup in 1995, just one year after opening to the public. The event was a huge boost for both Mission Hills and the game of golf in China, which up to that point had only 50,000 active golfers. Much like the Beijing Olympics presented a learning platform and testing ground for new methods and technologies in sports broadcasting, the 1995 World Cup brought Chinese and international broadcasters together to mark the first time a golf event was aired live across China and internationally.
The effects of this landmark achievement were felt beyond the world of broadcasting: the World Cup set in motion a golf boom that saw the game’s fan base in China rise from 50,000 to over three million golfers within a decade. More importantly, the country had proven it was eager and ready to use sports as a vehicle to bring the world to China and China to the world.
Although the World Cup continued to rotate from host country to host country for the next decade, a deal was in the works to find a long-term home for the event. Organizers wanted to find it a home in a region that presented fertile ground for the future development of the sport.
In 2007, Mission Hills answered this call and reached an unprecedented deal with the International Golf Federation to become long-term host of the World Cup of Golf. The announcement produced yet another growth spurt that has seen the number of golfers in China rise to three million (and climbing).
Together with fellow title sponsor Omega, Mission Hills has embarked on a quest to make the World Cup one of the most important events on global golf calendar. The club envisions the World Cup becoming to China what the Masters Tournament is to the United States, or what the Open Championship is to the United Kingdom.
“We’re certainly well on our way to realizing this goal,” says Tenniel Chu, Executive Director of Mission Hills Golf Club. “With each passing year, the World Cup’s roots grow deeper and stronger on both the Chinese and global sports landscape.”
Mission Hills’ Olazabal Course
Opened in 2003 and sprinkled with nearly 160 bunkers, Mission Hills’ Olazabal Course was designed by two-time Masters Champion Jose Maria Olazabal in collaboration with Scottsdale, Arizona based architects Schmidt-Curley Design (www.schmidt-curley.com). The par-72, 7,230-yard layout is distinguished by significant elevation changes, yielding numerous majestic vistas of the surrounding countryside.
Its signature hole is the 580-yard, par-5 15th, a right-to-left dogleg framed by 26 bunkers while curling around a large lake. A drive in the fairway makes reaching the green in two a possibility but beware of the water that sits perilously close to the green. It is a quintessential risk / reward par 5.
Mission Hills China
With twelve championship courses designed by legendary golfers and designers from five continents, Mission Hills China is the largest golf and leisure facility in the world according to the Guinness World Records. Since opening in 1994, Mission Hills China has been a key player in the country’s fledgling sports and leisure industry. Investing over US$1.5billion into facilities and sports properties including US$12 million in charitable contributions towards golf development, Mission Hills China has hosted over 50 professional and amateur golf tournaments and is home to the Faldo Series Asia, Mission Hills Jack Nicklaus Junior Championship, Mission Hills Golfathon, Mission Hills Golf Series and the World Cup of Golf. For more information, please visit www.missionhillschina.com.
Contact:
Stephen Reynolds
Buffalo Communications
703.891.3509
sreynolds@billycaspergolf.com
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