Two of South Africa's US Open championship winners, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen,
will represent South Africa in Japan at the WGC-EMC World Cup being played from
15 - 18th November 2001. The venue for this prestigious tournament is the Taiheiyo
Club's Gotemba Course in Gotemba City.
"With the World Cup now a recognized World Golf Championship event, it
is important that South Africa is represented by its leading world ranked
players," said Louis Martin, chief executive of the Southern Africa Tour.
"To this end we changed the criteria for team selection to reflect this.
We are
therefore very pleased to announce that our two highest ranked members, on the
World Golf Rankings, have agreed to play," concluded Martin.
"I am really looking forward to representing South Africa, and believe
that we will be a formidable team, especially after Retief's fantastic victory
in the US Open last week. If we can rekindle some of the form that helped us win
the 1996 World Cup in South Africa, I am sure we will give the front runners a
good go for their money," enthused Els, currently ranked third on the latest
World
Golf Rankings.
Ernie Els teamed up with Wayne Westner to dominate the 1996 competition from
start to finish. Not only did the South African pairing win the team event
but they also finished first and second respectively in the individual competition.
This was not the first time a South African team won the event. In 1965 Gary Player
and Harold Henning were victorious, so were Dale Hayes and Bobby Cole in 1974.
"Ernie and I have played together in team competitions, both as amateurs
and
professionals. We have teamed up well in the past and look forward to doing so
again in November. It is an honour for me to partner Ernie - I look forward to
playing alongside him on the Taiheiyo layout - one of my favourite courses,"
commented Goosen.
This is not the first time that Els and Goosen have played together in a World
Cup event. They did so in 1993, finishing sixth in the team competition.
"We are delighted that EMC has committed to the WGC EMC World Cup and
thereby ensuring the future of an event that has done much to promote golf around
the globe since its inception in 1953," added Martin.
