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There are many world cups in sport and it is fair to say that they are usually the pinnacle of the game in question.<\/p>\nThere are many world cups in sport and it is fair to say that they are usually the pinnacle of the game in question.<\/p>\n
That is certainly the case with football, rugby and one day cricket, among others, but it is very much not<\/em> the case when it comes to golf.<\/p>\n This fact rather explains why we need an article titled \u201cWhat Is The World Cup Of Golf?\u201d in the first place.<\/p>\n So, what is it? In this article, we will explain exactly that.<\/p>\n We will take a look at its history and some of the past winners and notable events that have occurred.<\/p>\n We will also give details of the structure and format of the competition, as well as a prediction about what its future holds.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start right at the very beginning when the World Cup of Golf was first played \u2013 before it was even given the name it now carries. According to the PGA\u2019s official tournament history<\/a>, the \u201cinaugural World Cup of Golf took place in 1953, albeit under a different name.\u201d<\/p>\n Seven nations took part in that ground-breaking event, with Montreal the host for what was known as the Canada Cup and International Golf Championship. American John Jay Hopkins is the man responsible for creating this international competition and it is his name that is honoured by the event\u2019s trophy. Hopkins felt golf could be a force for good (he obviously never played with Donald Trump) and in 1952 he established the International Golf Association in New York.<\/p>\n The organisation\u2019s motto was \u201cInternational Goodwill Through Golf\u201d, which is a fine slogan. Slogans alone do not forge cooperation and kindness though, so Hopkins then created the \u201cInternational Tournament\u201d in an attempt to make good on his goals. America\u2019s neighbour and friend Canada was the perfect host for the inaugural event and so the World Cup was born.<\/p>\n Roberto de Vicenzo, who would go on to win the Open in 1967, helped guide the Argentine team to success in that first tournament. Coincidentally, 1967 was the year the event adopted its current name too and rather fittingly that year it was won by the formidable team that combined two of the greats of the game: Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.<\/p>\n That duo was perhaps the strongest ever pair to play in the event and together they won a record four times (Fred Couples and Davis Love III share the record but Jack and Arnie both have six wins each in total, both having won it twice more with other partners).<\/p>\n For a short time from 2000 to 2006 inclusive, the World Cup was part of the World Golf Championships. This experiment was short-lived though and since 2007 it has been held as a standalone event. Its\u2019 time as a WGC event was not without drama though and in 2001 it required an incredible four-team play-off to decide the winners.<\/p>\n Taiheiyo Club\u2019s Gotemba Course in Japan was the host as Tiger Woods, who had won with Mark O\u2019Meara in 1999 and David Duval in 2000, holed an eagle chip at the last to take him and Duval into a play-off with South Africa, Denmark and New Zealand. Ultimately it was Retief Goosen and Ernie Els who prevailed for SA, denying Woods the hat-trick.<\/p>\n As with most tournaments that have been around for some time, there have been various name changes and adjustments to structure and format. The first-ever event was a 36-hole combined-score stroke play tournament, changing to 72 holes from 1954 to 1999. From 2000 it became a combination of fourball and foursomes (alternating) whilst in 2013 there was much more of an individual element to proceedings, with huge prize money and official world ranking points on offer, as well as a standard stroke play format.<\/p>\n Qualification has generally been based on world rankings, although players can choose whether or not they want to participate. We typically do still see very strong teams but the days of pairings like Jack and Arnie may be long behind us, with some of the game\u2019s elite, especially from the US, opting to sit it out, often depending on how it sits in the scheduling.<\/p>\n Some early editions of the World Cup (then the Canada Cup) took place in June and various other times of the year but in general it has been held towards the end of the calendar, with November the most common host month. In 2010 the World Cup sat out a year and switched to a once-every-two-years contest, taking place in odd-numbered years. This was partly to allow for golf\u2019s entry into the 2016 Olympics.<\/p>\nWorld Cup Of Golf History<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n![\"Roberto](\"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Roberto_De_Vicenzo_golf-250px.jpg\")
Format<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nFuture Of The World Cup Of Golf<\/h2>\n
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In recent times we have seen more frequent tinkering and disruption for various reasons, with no tournament in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. At the time of writing, it is unclear when the next edition of this great event will take place but major changes are being talked about. It is expected that the World Cup will introduce mixed-gender teams in an attempt to boost the women\u2019s game, widen the sport\u2019s appeal, and create a tournament that really grabs the fans\u2019 attention in the way that a World Cup should.<\/p>\n
![Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires from Ciudad Aut\u00f3noma de Buenos Aires, Argentina<\/a>,](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Roberto_De_Vicenzo_(cropped).jpg\"){kind=link}