Big names confirmed for World Cup

Three former major champions, including the course designer José Maria Olazábal of Spain, and a host of big names will be among the competitors from the 18 already confirmed countries in the 2007 Omega Mission Hills World Cup at Mission Hills Golf Club in China from November 22-25.

The Olazábal signature course, which carries the stamp of the 1994 and 1999 Masters Champion, will be the venue for the US$5 million event which sees a total of 28 nations battle it out for the prestigious title and the imposing World Cup Trophy.

Today’s 18 countries will be joined by a further 10 teams following qualifying competitions in Asia (Fortis International Challenge) and Latin America (Nations Cup) from September 27-30.

Three Major Champions will tee up in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup along with a host of global winners, with Olazábal confirmed as Spain’s Number One along with Retief Goosen of South Africa and Mike Weir of Canada.

Goosen, the two-time US Open Champion, and 2003 Masters Champion Weir, will announce their partners in due course. However Olazábal has selected his close friend, Miguel Angel Jiménez, to represent the Spanish flag.

Jiménez came close to World Cup success three years ago when Spain finished runner-up, one shot behind England, over another Olazábal-designed course, Real Club de Golf Sevilla, in his home country.

Goosen has already experienced the thrill of victory in the World Cup when South Africa secured a dramatic play-off victory over Denmark, New Zealand and the United States in Japan in 2001.

Goosen and Zhang Lian-wei of host country China are both making a sentimental return to Mission Hills, 12 years after representing their respective countries in the 1995 World Cup. South Africa and China finished eighth and 27th respectively that year and will be determined to secure a higher placing this time around.

Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, the eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner, will join forces with Marc Warren in an attempt to go one better than last year in Barbados when the same partnership lost out to Germany in a sudden-death play-off.

Justin Rose has invited his close friend, Ian Poulter, to represent England, who were successful in 2004 and prior to that in 1998. Rose, in tandem with Paul Casey, finished second behind South Africa at Kiawah Island in 2004 while Poulter’s only previous appearance was at the Taiheiyo Club in Japan in 2001.

The host nation, China, will be represented at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup by the older generation in Zhang – the first Chinese golfer to win on The European Tour – and the younger generation in Liang Wen-Chong, the most recent player from China to win on The European Tour earlier this season in Singapore, and currently leading the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit.

The United States will be represented by Arron Oberholser and Sean O’Hair while 2005 winners, Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge of Wales, are reunited in a bid to wrest back the trophy.

Confirmed countries and partners are:

Argentina: Andres Romero and Ricardo Gonzalez
Australia: Nick O’Hern
Austria: Markus Brier
Canada: Mike Weir
China: Liang Wen-chong and Zhang Lian-wei
Denmark: Anders Hansen and Søren Hansen
England: Justin Rose and Ian Poulter
France: Raphaël Jacquelin and Gregory Havret
Finland: Mikko Ilonen and Pasi Purhonen
Germany: Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka
India: Jyoti Randhawa and Gaurev Ghei
Japan: Hideto Tanihara
Scotland: Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren
South Africa: Retief Goosen
Spain: José Maria Olazábal and Miguel Angel Jiménez
Sweden: Robert Karlsson and Peter Hanson
United States: Arron Oberholser and Sean O’Hair
Wales: Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge

September 18, 2007

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