Fierce competition, existing rivalries highlight inaugural World Champions Cup

BRADENTON, Florida – Wednesday’s final practice round for the PGA TOUR Champions’ inaugural World Champions Cup – a three-day, three-way competition pitting accomplished competitors from the U.S., Europe and the rest of the world (Internationals) – kicked off in warm Florida sunshine, with the usual reunion-fueled pleasantries and playful teammate needling.

There were team photos on the range with players standing alongside their golf bags, wives and caddies, as well as very familiar pre-tournament scenes – just picture Vijay Singh endlessly and smoothly pounding golf balls at the far end of the range. Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, in the twilight of great careers, will team up for the Internationals this week, as they did in numerous Presidents Cups. The two men go back a ways. Wednesday, they were recalling junior days together more than 40 years ago at home in South Africa, and serving time in the military together.

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, Team Europe’s playing captain, seemed outright shocked that Bernhard Langer, a fitness nut, takes two sugars in his morning coffee.

“Two sugars?” Clarke asked incredulously.

And asked when they last competed in match play, Team USA members Brett Quigley and Billy Andrade, fellow Rhode Islanders who missed out ever playing the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, looked at one another and broke out in hearty laughter.

“State Amateur, maybe?” joked Quigley, now 53.

Funny, though, when longtime pro Peter Jacobsen and fellow tournament organizer Charlie Besser (CEO of Intersport) gathered the three team captains (Clarke, Els and Jim Furyk of the U.S.) to go over a few of the World Champions Cup ground rules, the grins took a temporary break. Things got quieter, less jovial. Captains gave one another some extra space, elbow room as if they were boxers sizing up their opponents in the center of a small ring.

“You know when you go to a Christmas party, (and) everyone's all standing like this?” Jacobsen started, trying to display the intensity. “On the range everybody was standing about a couple arm's length away, because this is serious. These guys all want to win. It's all fun stuff starting Wednesday ... but when we get going in the tournament, it gets serious, and these guys want to settle some scores.”

There is golf and there is tournament golf, Bobby Jones always reminded us, and then there also is golf when a player is there representing more than self. That’s different, too. It summons emotion out of players one normally does not see on a weekly basis, when their heads are down and they are on their own. That is the case this week for each of the six-player teams who have gathered at The Concession Golf Club for this inaugural competition.

Jacobsen recalled getting thumped by Europe’s Sandy Lyle early on in the Ryder Cup years ago. He would play in, and win, other Ryder Cup matches. But this particular defeat stung. And it stayed with him a long, long time. Match play, especially within teams, is personal.

When the World Champions Cup begins on Thursday, all players with an ounce of competitive juice in their bloodstream shift into a different mode. The game face returns rather quickly.

“Our tour is ultra-competitive,” said Clarke, winner of the 2011 Open Championship and Ryder Cup player and captain. “Some people don't really get that, they think we're out there, you know, older guys over 50 ... but make no mistake, as soon as the first tee shot in the tournament comes around, we're back to being seriously competitive professional golfers.

“We all want to win. That's in our nature. That ain’t going to change.”

This new event, in the works for roughly a decade, comprises 54 holes played over four days – the competition takes a 24-hour break on Saturday, with players partaking in a pro-am and the course closed to spectators. Usually it’s U.S. vs. Europe, or the U.S. taking on the Internationals, depending on the year and event. This time, all three are attending the party. It makes for a different kind of competition, to be sure. But with everyone here, folks are eager to find out which team is the best.

"We've kind of knitted it all together into this Christmas sweater," Jacobsen said, "but it's not an ugly Christmas sweater. It's a beautiful Christmas sweater."

Thursday, Friday and Sunday, there will be 18 holes of stroke play/match play each day, with a whopping 648 points up for grabs. That's three points per hole over 54 holes (It's less confusing than it sounds.) There are three points available on each hole over nine-hole matches; for instance, if the Internationals make a par and the U.S. and European teams each make bogey on the first hole, the Internationals earn two points for low score, and the other two teams split the remaining point after tying for second. If three pairings card three different scores, points are divided thusly: 2 (low score), 1 (second low), 0 (worst score).

There are three separate formats: Scotch Sixsome (two players on a team tee off on a hole, and alternate shots after choosing the best drive); Six Ball features six balls in play (two per team on each hole, using each team's best ball) ; and on Sunday, there are two nine-hole sessions of Singles (one player from each team in a threesome). Teams must hole out on each hole, regardless how a match stands. (Yes, ironically, at a beautiful venue called The Concession, there will be no concessions.)

When a caddie encouraged Langer to “go out and get five points” this week – a perfect week at any Ryder Cup – he knows he must do better. To do well, he will need many, many more points than that.

“Usually you're playing one guy, now they're both playing you and you're both playing them,” said Montgomerie, a longtime stalwart for Europe in the Ryder Cup, where he was 20-9-7. “It's just an inaugural event that I think will be here many, many years. I think it will work extremely well. I'm looking forward to getting all 162 points, really.”

Cue the rim shot.

Andrade was expecting to be in Florida to help out Furyk as an assistant captain for the U.S. But Furyk’s back has been acting up, he is not able to play, and he called Andrade last week to tell him to bring his clubs on the trip. Andrade, in addition to helping Furyk with pairings, will play for the U.S., and he can’t wait.

“I never had the opportunity to play on a Ryder Cup and didn't make a Presidents Cup team,” Andrade said. “So this is huge for me. I'm just excited about playing with a partner and getting in the mix and helping each other out. I mean, I played team sports my whole life, basketball, baseball. I love the team aspect of it.”

So this week brings together 18 players, six per team, who have varying levels of experience in team events. Some are rookies, and some have played many times representing their respective teams. As a Presidents Cup captain in 2019, Els had the task of bringing his International side together as one. He isn’t so concerned about having to build chemistry this week. He has lots of confidence in his team. Five have played in the Presidents Cup, three (Els, Goosen, Singh) are in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and Steven Alker, coming off victory at the Charles Schwab Championship and 2022's top Champions player, is one of the hottest players here.

“This is a little different, yeah. There's a lot of experience on this panel,” Els said. “These teams have achieved a lot in their careers. I mean, a lot.”

Montgomerie’s words that he and Team Europe would aim to secure all 162 points prompted some terrific reaction from his assembled teammates, who enjoyed the line. This was Wednesday, after all, and they had a little time before they had to get, well, serious.

“It's a fantastic opportunity to showcase our tour and how strong it is,” Montgomerie said of the first-year event, adding with a smirk, “I think it will be a fantastic success – provided, of course, we win.”