CLEARWATER, Fla. – Peter Jacobsen, a seven-time PGA Tour winner turned announcer and golf public figure, co-founded the World Champions Cup because he believed senior golf needed a team event in the mold of the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. In at least one respect, the upstart tournament, which opened its second game Thursday morning here at Feather Sound Country Club, mimics more established tournaments. That means the best players from the United States, Europe and the rest of the world will play under their respective flags in a format that breaks away from the drumbeat of traditional stroke play events. But in more ways than one, this World Champions Cup has its own identity.
First of all, heckling is prohibited.
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It’s a joke, but it’s kind of a joke. The 18 players who competed in the first three six-ball sessions Thursday morning were welcomed on the first tee by hundreds of fans watching from half-filled lap bleachers, but there were no fervent chants for America or America. Beebeebee Or by a foul-mouthed host. . . Just some good old fashioned applause. Patriotic symbolism was also a big deal, with Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” blaring from speakers near the teeing ground. Face paint has no fans. No Viking horns. No American flag overalls. In fact, a couple of Team USA supporters wearing American flags over their shoulders said they stumbled upon it while shopping for throat lozenges at CVS, and said it was a last-minute impulse purchase.
However, fluidity is possible when there is no electricity in the environment. At any given moment, you might be able to see Colin Montgomerie smoothing a ball or Miguel Ángel Jimenez firing a stogie from the front row on the practice field. In the next game, you could be sitting Teeside watching major winners like Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke and Mike Weir knock down drives (and in Clarke’s case, smarten up) in the opening round. Once out on the course we had even better visibility. In the Ryder Cup, you have to put your elbows in to get some space and get into the front of the group four or five holes to get a decent vantage point, but in the World Champions Cup you can get close enough to the tee and green to hear the players’ banter. (Yes, that’s Jerry Kelly on the par-5 fifth, where he beats his partner Steve Flesch with an awkward bathroom encounter on the way to the tee.)
The format of the World Champions Cup is also very different from the Ryder Cup and President’s Cup. First, there are three teams, which complicates scoring. Traditional head-to-head matches don’t work.
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When Jacobsen came up with the idea for the event with co-founder and head of intrasport Charlie Besser, Jake said the two were “locked in a room with tons of paperwork” to concoct a scoring system. They decided on a stroke play format, contested in 24 nine-hole groups, including both team and single play.
On the first two days of the three-day event, players will compete in the Six Ball (i.e. the highest ball score of the three pairs in each group) and the Scotch Sixsome (a modified version of the Alternative Shot). For both formats, the official rules state: “The team with the lowest hole score will receive 2 points. The team with the second lowest hole score will receive 1 point. The team with the highest score will receive no points. If each team finishes with the same score on a hole, they will be awarded the same number of points.” On Sunday, the event concludes with six singles matches, scoring according to a team format. You can earn 648 points in total. In the first edition in 2023, the United States won a nail-biting victory, scoring a total of 221 points, surprisingly just two points more than the international team.
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“Two years ago, a lot of players said to me, ‘I don’t understand the format,'” Jakubosen said. “All I could tell them was, ‘If you play the first hole, you’re going to make it.’ And then they all came over and said, ‘Oh, I get it, I get it.’
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Six players and their caddies in the hole may sound like a crowd, especially if they crowd around the tee box or roam around the green. Unless it’s Stewart Cink on Thursday morning, just keeping track of who has the honor can be a pain. In the first six-ball match, Sink found himself in the unenviable and “boring” position of batting last. every hole. “We absolutely didn’t win any holes,” he told me after he and Jason Caron scored seven points in a match against Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn (Europe) and Stephen Alker and Mike Weir (International). “So I hit 6th place for nine holes in a row and three hours in a row.”
That bit of stigma aside, Sink said he loves the six-ball. Because with so many balls in play, “for better or worse, there’s always a moment of action in the hole.”
Jerry Kelly, who scored six points for Fresh on Thursday morning, didn’t seem well-suited to the format, which requires the patience of a schoolteacher. Kelly, who has a reputation for playing fast, said he was starting to get nervous. . . At the first teeing ground. “After the fifth guy, I totally quickstepped him off the tee,” he told me.
Big crowd on 12th: Thursday’s World Champions Cup 6-ball match. alain bastable
Mr Kelly said heavy traffic on the greens was also a challenge. “It’s hard to get around everyone’s marks, but almost everyone stepped on them,” he said. “I’m really a little confused and I’m not as focused on my game as usual because I’m always trying to get out of someone’s way or trying to figure out when it’s my turn to hit. It takes me away from my game a little bit more.”
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Steve Stricker, who earned just 5.5 points in the morning session with partner Justin Leonard and recovered to 9.5 points in the afternoon, said the key to six-man golf is to take mental breaks when play slows down. intention All 9 hole morning sessions took over 3 hours. “You just have to go away and get into a different zone for a little while and pay attention,” Stricker told me.
The crowd was bigger and more lively than at the first tee shot as the afternoon game headed toward the final hole, a short-water par four to the right of the green and the box seats behind it. Three women wearing American flag hats stood near the fishing spot to look around at several photographers and photographers. Meanwhile, at the stand where the bartender was pouring drinks, fans rallied for the short-lived America! chant.
But it was the blue and gold that really deserved cheers. When Justin Leonard holed his final putt of the day, a 5-foot par, Europe had opened up a 4.5-point lead over both opponents. The event may not be all that different from the Ryder Cup after all.
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