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Malaysia to stage World Cup qualifier

Malaysia will host a qualifying round for the World Golf Championships-World Cup from September 13-16 where the top two teams will qualify for Barbados.

The Asian Tour is staging the four-day qualifier on behalf of the International Federation of PGA Tours, organisers of the four World Golf Championships events. The Asian qualifier will be held at Seri Selangor Golf Club, Malaysia's first bona-fide public golf course.

The Qualifier in Malaysia is open to Asian, European and African nations. Two-man teams will converge at Seri Selangor to chase the opportunity to challenge title holder Wales and some of the world's best players in the World Cup.

A total of US$4 million prize money will be on offer at Sandy Lane Resort in St James, Barbados from December 7-10.

"I would like to extend our appreciation to Seri Selangor Golf Club for agreeing to host what is an important event on the international golfing calendar," said Asian Tour Chief Executive Louis Martin.

"The Qualifier is a wonderful opportunity for Asian teams to play their way into the World Cup. As it will be held the week after the Barclays Singapore Open, which is our flagship event, we are anticipating that some of the region's top players will cross over to Malaysia to represent their country.

"It is an honour for sportsmen to represent their nation, more so in golf as there are very few team competitions on the golf calendar. We are hoping to see no fewer than 12 teams in action at Seri Selangor," added Martin.

This will be the first time that Seri Selangor is hosting a major golf competition. Opened for play in 1998, the course was designed by Australian architect Ross Watson and provides a wonderful challenge with its tree-lined fairways and undulating greens.

Last year, Singaporean duo Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat along with Chinese Taipei's Wang Ter-chang, winner of the Brunei Open last week, and Chang Tse-peng qualified for the World Cup in Portugal.

The format for the Qualifier is the same as the World Cup, with fourball golf played on the first and third days and foursomes (or alternate shot) played on the second and final days.

The leading 18 players from different countries on the Official World Golf Ranking, published on September 11, 2006 will gain automatic entries into the World Cup.

Like Asia, South America will also host a Qualifier. A total of 24 teams will tee up in Barbados.

September 10, 2006