DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The women’s golf tours will now have a World Cup. The LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour announced the creation of the Acer Women’s World Cup of Golf, to be played in South Africa.
The event, the first-ever truly worldwide competition co-sanctioned by both tours, will take place in February of 2005 at Pezula Championship Golf Course in Knysna, South Africa.
The tournament will include a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 24 teams comprised of two players of the same nationality. The teams will be selected through an official ranking system that will be created by the two tours. One team from South Africa must be included.
There has been much discussion of some type of international team competition after last week’s Solheim Cup. That event is reserved for Americans and Europeans and with such an influx of international competitors such as Se Ri Pak, Karrie Webb and Mi Hyun Kim, the tours created the World Cup.
‘Fresh off one of the most successful Solheim Cups in history, with sold-out crowds in Sweden, it is obvious the appetite for women’s professional golf is bigger than ever,’ said Ty M. Votaw, the LPGA commissioner. ‘Just a quick glance at the LPGA official money list and the LET Order of Merit demonstrates how many talented golfers from around the globe are playing at the highest level.’
The three-day, 54-hole event will have a different format each day. There will be 18 holes of foursomes or alternate-shot, 18 holes of fourballs and 18 holes of stroke play.
