The LET announced today
that the inaugural Ladies World Cup of Golf will be launched at Adare Manor Hotel
and Golf Club in Limerick, Ireland from September 15-17, 2000.
The 2000 Ladies World Cup
of Golf, which will be managed by the LET in conjunction with Bord Fáilte (the
Irish Tourist Board) and Adare Manor, will be based on the same format as the
men's World Cup of Golf.
"This is another hugely
exciting development for women's golf and we are delighted to be staging the
very first Ladies World Cup of Golf at Adare Manor and with the support of Bord
Fáilte," said Tim Howland, Chief Executive, LET.
"We still have one or two
details to finalise, but I have spoken to our fellow Tours in America and Japan
and they have agreed to the event in principle, while a number of leading players
have already pledged their support.
"Being Australian, Karrie doesn't
get the chance to play in The Solheim Cup, and this gives her the chance to compete
in a team event and also represent her country. The same goes for Se-ri Pak, who
I am confident will also play.
"Laura (Davies) was also
very supportive when I spoke to her, as were Janice Moodie and Catrin Nilsmark.
It will be a truly global event, similar to the men's World Cup, and because
there is no LPGA tournament that week I am confident we will see the world's
leading women players at Adare Manor."
The LET will be releasing
the exact format for the event in a couple of week's time, but Howland said he
expected the inaugural Ladies World Cup of Golf to feature 20 teams from around
the world competing for a total prize fund of 500,000 Irish punts.
Each team will consist
of two players selected by their respective PGA's from the European, American
and Japanese moneylists. Each player will play three rounds of strokeplay over
the Robert Trent Jones Snr design, with the winning cheque going to the team
with the lowest combined total score.
Howland added that he expected
the leading nations in women's golf to enter a team, including the USA, England,
Sweden, Korea, Australia, Japan and Scotland, while Ireland will be invited to
enter a team as the host nation.
The Ladies World Cup of
Golf will be an annual team event and will be staged in a different country every
year. Officials from the LET said they are already close to securing a host venue
for 2001. In addition to the Women's Australian Open, the Evian Masters and the
Weetabix Women's British Open will be joint-sanctioned events with the LPGA from
America.
