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Champions team up for World Cup

Players from 28 countries who have combined for 21 wins around the world over the course of the past season will tee it up at the 2006 World Golf Championships-Barbados World Cup on Dec. 7-10 at Sandy Lane Resort’s Country Club Course in St. James, Barbados.

Defending champions Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd of Wales have combined for nine career European Tour victories with five and four wins, respectively. Dredge’s latest victory was at this year’s Omega European Masters where he blew away the field for an 8-stroke-victory. Dodd was also victorious this year on the European Tour at the Smurfit Kappa European Open for one of Ireland’s most prestigious titles at The K Club.

The two won this event last year at Victoria Clube de Golfe in the Algarve region of Portugal. Their victory was the first by Wales in the competition since 1987.

Stephen Ames of Trinidad & Tobago broke through in 2006 with the biggest victory of his career at The Players Championship. Ames will be playing in this year’s Barbados World Cup with his brother, Robert, who served as Stephen’s caddie during The Players.

England’s Luke Donald (No. 10) and David Howell (No. 12) enter the tournament as the highest ranked team from the Official World Golf Rankings. Donald has a pair of victories on both the PGA Tour and the European Tour, his most recent being the 2006 Honda Classic. Donald was also on the England team that won this event in 2004. Howell won this year’s BMW Championship for his fourth victory on the European Tour.

Swedish team members Henrik Stenson and Carl Pettersson each enjoyed success in 2006 as well. Stenson won the BMW International Open and the The Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Pettersson on for the second time on the PGA Tour with his victory at this year’s Memorial Tournament.

Japan’s Hideto Tanihara won twice on the Japan Golf Tour with wins at the JCB Classic Sendai and the Sun Chlorella Classic.

Ireland’s Padraig Harrington won the Dunhill Links Championship this season for his 10th career win on the European Tour. Harrington also won twice in 2005 on the PGA Tour. United States team member J.J. Henry won the Buick Championship earlier this year for his first PGA Tour victory, while South African Rory Sabbatini won the 2006 Nissan Open for his third PGA Tour win of his career.

Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn (Nissan Irish Open), Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez (BMW Asian Open), Korea’s S.K. Ho (Gate Way To The Open Mizuno Open) and Charlie Wi (Maybank Malaysian Open), Australia’s John Senden (John Deere Classic), Tetsuji Hiratsuka of Japan (Woodone Open Hiroshima), French team member Jean Van De Velve (Madeira Island Open) and Italy’s Francesco Molinari (Telecom Italia Open).

The Barbados World Cup field features a number of players who have represented their countries in recent international team competitions. 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.

November 14, 2006