Pride and passion on the line
Team competitions often bring out the best from athletes, especially when they proudly don the national colors to represent their countries.
Such a privilege can evoke an overflow of passion, competitive spirit and pride, creating wonderful theater for fans to enjoy and celebrate.
In golf, the opportunity for players to represent their country in a team competition is few and far between as the professional circuits, from the PGA Tour to the domestic tours around the world, regularly see golfers battling it out for individual honors on a weekly basis.
Next week in Melbourne, Australia, some 56 of the finest golfers in the world will team up to represent 28 countries in a shootout for one of the most prized team trophies, the World Cup of Golf.
The WCG is a team competition rich in history and tradition. Past winning partnerships include great names such as of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead; Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus; David Duval and Tiger Woods.
For the Asian nations, the ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf at Metropolitan Golf Club from Nov 22-25 offers another great stage to showcase the growing strength and depth of the game in the Far East.
All eyes will be on China’s Li Haotong and Wu Ashun, who teamed up brilliantly to finish tied for second in Melbourne two years ago. Both have won on the European Tour this year, so much is expected from the Chinese dynamic duo.
“We enjoyed ourselves two years ago. With some luck, we could have won, so we’ll go there with the aim to challenge for a win,” said Wu, who won his third European Tour victory in the Netherlands in September.
“To have the chance to represent China again makes me very happy and we’ll do our best to make China proud,”
India’s Anirban Lahiri and Gaganjeet Bhullar could potentially provide a powerful partnership at the Melbourne tournament.
Lahiri, now an established PGA Tour regular, said: “It’s very special ... I’m very excited to be representing my country.”
Bhullar, a nine-time Asian Tour winner, added: “This will be my second event in the World Cup with my previous one being with Anirban, so we really gel on the golf course. We’ve played a lot of junior and amateur golf together and understand each other’s game plan really well.”
Kiradech Aphibarnrat, the first Thai to earn a PGA Tour card for the 2018-19 season, has picked best friend Prom Meesawat, a two-time Asian Tour winner, as his WCG partner.
Winning the tournament would have a huge impact on the game’s growth in Thailand, said Aphibarnrat.
“We’re not playing only for ourselves — we’re playing for our country,” he added.
“We’re playing for 70 million Thai people. We’ve got the Thai flag on our chest. If we win the World Cup, everyone in the country will know us.”
Other Asian tandems to watch out for at the WCG include Korea’s Byeonghun An and Si Woo Kim; Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira and Hideto Tanihara; and Malaysia’s Gavin Green and Ben Leong.
An, who is now playing in his third season on the PGA Tour, said the World Cup could also be a nice prelude to his hopes of breaking into the International team for the Presidents Cup.
“I missed the last two Presidents Cup, so I would love to play for the Internationals next year” said An, a former US Amateur champion.
Green, the Asian Tour No 1 in 2017, was ecstatic to earn his first appearance in the World Cup of Golf as his career continues to trend upwards.
“It’s amazing that I’ve qualified for the World Cup of Golf. I’ve always wanted to play in the event and to have the opportunity to represent Malaysia,” he said.
The writer is senior director, communications for the PGA Tour and is based in TPC Kuala Lumpur. He can be reached at ChuahChooChiang@pgatourintl.com.my