World Champions Cup set to reignite competitive energy for PGA TOUR Champions players

Nothing quite compares to the emotional charge of international team competition, as evidenced by the back-and-forth competitive fire exuded at last week’s Ryder Cup.

The World Champions Cup will give PGA TOUR Champions pros a chance to rekindle that energy.

“Now that we're in our 50s, and I haven't played on one of these teams since I think 2014, it's been nine years. I miss 'em; I really do,” said Jim Furyk, who will join Darren Clarke and Ernie Els as team captains at the inaugural World Champions Cup. “I've been a part of them as a captain or vice captain, but I miss competing in these, so this opportunity I think we're all grateful for.”

The anticipation for the inaugural World Champions Cup grew stronger on Tuesday during a pre-tournament press conference with all three team captains at Timuquana Country Club ahead of this week’s Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS. The event will be contested Dec. 7-10 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. Unlike the traditional team competitions in golf pitting two sides against each other, the World Champions Cup will have three teams competing for the trophy.

All three captains have ample experience in team competition aside from their illustrious golf careers in individual events. The glaring difference between the two formats? The reason why they play.

“It's all about playing for that cup, you know,” eight-time Presidents Cup participant Els said. “It's all about pride and it's all about the team camaraderie, playing for that flag and for the history of the match.”

Team Europe Captain Clarke, who participated in five Ryder Cups from 1997 to 2006, just watched his European side win both the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup.

“Well, you know, I think the team aspect is something that we as professional golfers don't get to experience too often,” Clarke remarked when asked about team events versus individual competitions. “Obviously we are our three teams, International team, U.S. team and European team. As individuals, we're all trying to beat each other and then all of a sudden we get together whenever the team matches arise and we're all pulling for the guys that we're trying to beat, not only our teammates but the opposition. We're trying to win our matches, and because of that the guys get so fired up. And the ladies get fired up, we've just seen the Solheim Cup as well.”

With Europe having just won the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup, Clarke also made note of homefield advantage versus playing visitor.

“Europe's been strong,” Clarke said. “That being said, both those victories were on European soil. We're obviously playing in the U.S. this year, but it's going to be exciting. It's going to be exciting to represent Europe certainly on the road.”

Furyk was recently in Rome serving as vice captain for the U.S. Team and was able to share sentiments of camaraderie from his time last week at the Ryder Cup.

“I was in that team room each and every day and night,” Furyk said. “Those 12 guys really bonded, really got along well. I know they're disappointed that we didn't bring the cup back to the United States, but I can say, and I'll stand by it, those 12 guys really got along well and supported each other. As captains, we couldn't have asked for anything more.”

These remarks stemmed from the social media drama surrounding Patrick Cantlay and his choice not to wear a hat during competition.

“Absolutely not. Team USA is about comfort,” Furyk said when asked if Team USA would be required to wear hats at the World Champions Cup.

Aside from the tongue-in-cheek silliness of the hat talk, Furyk discussed what it means to represent one’s country in a team event.

“To represent something bigger than yourself, to wear the American flag on your sleeve, to be a group and play for a team is something I've always admired,” said Furyk, who represented the U.S. Team in nine Ryder Cups, seven Presidents Cups and was 2018 Ryder Cup captain.

Details have been emerging about the World Champions Cup since the beginning of September with Vijay Singh (International), Bernhard Langer (Europe) and Steve Stricker (USA) already having been announced as automatic qualifiers two weeks ago. Three more automatic qualifiers were announced Tuesday, with Retief Goosen, Colin Montgomerie and David Toms set to represent Team International, Team Europe and Team USA, respectively.

The qualifiers were not the only bit of news that came out of Tuesday press conference, which also announced more details regarding the tournament format.

“We'll be playing a unique scoring format that will have full nine-hole matches being completed,” said Jason Langwell, executive director of the World Champions Cup.

More details on the qualifiers and event format can be found here.