Team spirit 12:00, 13/11/2018

 By Chuah Choo Chiang - Senior Director of PGA TOUR

Si Woo Kim

Some 56 of the finest golfers will soon team up in Melbourne, Australia to represent 28 countries to vie for one of the most prized team trophies, the World Cup of Golf.

It is a team competition rich in history and tradition where past winning teams include great names such as of Ben Hogan/Sam Snead, Peter Thomson/Kel Nagle, Arnold Palmer/Jack Nicklaus, David Duval/Tiger Woods, Davis Love III/Fred Couples and Ernie Els/Retief Goosen.

For the Asian nations, the ISPS HANDA Melbourne World Cup of Golf at The Metropolitan Golf Club from November 22 to 25 will offer another great stage to showcase the growing strength and depth of the game in the Far East.

Since the event’s inauguration in 1953, which was initially known as the Canada Cup, Asian nations have been crowned World Cup of Golf champions on three occasions, with Torakichi Nakamura and Koichi Ono of Japan winning on home soil in 1957, followed by Chinese Taipei’s Lu Liang-huan and Hsieh Min-nan in Melbourne in 1972 and later a second Japanese triumph by Toshi Izawa and Shigeki Maruyama in Mexico in 2002.

All eyes will very much be on China’s Li Haotong and Wu Ashun who teamed up brilliantly to finish tied for second in Melbourne two years ago. They will forge their partnership again this month and with their form very much intact – both have won on the European Tour this year -much is expected from the Chinese dynamic duo.

Anirban Lahiri

India’s Anirban Lahiri and new kid on the block, Shubhankar Sharma, could potentially provide a powerful partnership in the World Cup of Golf as well. Lahiri, now an established PGA TOUR regular, reckons they could potentially become strong partners too for the Presidents Cup which will also be staged at Royal Melbourne in December, 2019.

Kiradech Aphibarnrat, the first Thai to earn a PGA TOUR card for the 2018-19 season, has picked best friend Prom Meesawat, a two-time Asian Tour winner, as his partner as they attempt to impress at The Metropolitan. Winning the World Cup of Golf for the first time for the Kingdom will have unimaginable consequences for the growth of the game, says Kiradech.

“If we can win the World Cup, it’ll mean a lot. We’re playing for our country. We’re not playing only for ourselves, or for our caddies, we’re playing for 70 million Thai people. We’ve got the Thai flag on our chest. There’ll be more pressure that we have to handle playing for our country. If you win the World Cup, everyone will know you are from that country,” said Kiradech.

Pride and passion, nation verses nation will very much be the main theme at the ISPS HANDA Melbourne World Cup of Golf and Asia’s leading golfers will be aiming to bring honour and glory to their respective nations.