Player eligibility criteria for World Cup announced

THE International Federation of PGA Tours announced today that the player eligibility criteria for the 2018 Melbourne World Cup of Golf has been confirmed, as anticipation builds to the unique international team’s event return to the famed Melbourne Sandbelt region November 22-25, 2018 at The Metropolitan Golf Club.

The Melbourne World Cup of Golf will feature two-players from the top 28 nations on the Official World Golf Ranking. The 59th staging of the event will see the 56-player field vie for the largest prize money purse in Australian golf, with US$7 million on offer.

The makeup of the 28-team (56 players) field is as follows:

● Top 28 available countries from the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) as of September 3, 2018.

● The top ranked player may pick any player from the same country within the top 500 on the OWGR, or if there are less than five players to choose from within the top 500, may extend the range of possible choices to be at least 5 players (and any ties) even if ranked outside 500.

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The deadline for the exempt players to commit is 5pm USA eastern time Thursday, September 13, 2018.

● The deadline for the exempt player to select his partner is 5pm USA eastern time Thursday, September 20, 2018.

The tournament format will be a 72-hole stroke play team event with each team comprised of two players. The first and third rounds will be Four-ball (best ball) play and the second and final rounds will be Foursomes (alternate shot) play.

The 2018 event will mark the third consecutive playing of the World Cup of Golf in the Melbourne Sandbelt region. In 2016, Danes Søren Kjeldsen and Thorbjørn Olesen shot a finalround 66 in foursomes at Kingston Heath to win Denmark’s first World Cup of Golf title by four strokes over the United States, China and France. Aussies Adam Scott and Jason Day were victorious at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 2013.

The 2018 Melbourne World Cup of Golf will mark the sixth time in the tournament’s history that it will be played in Australia, which is the second-most all-time behind the United States (11).

Widely regarded as one of the finest championship courses in Australia, The Metropolitan Golf Club shares a common origin with The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in 1891, and consistently enjoys a reputation as one of the bestconditioned and most beautiful courses in the country. The Metropolitan Golf Club’s rich tournament history includes the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play (2001), Men’s Australian Open, (1930, 1936, 1951, 1979, 1986, 1993, 1997), Australian PGA Championship (1930, 1936, 1951, 1966, 1968), Women’s Australian Open (2009) and the Australian Masters (2014).

Several hospitality options are now on sale for both the 2018 Melbourne World Cup of Golf and the 2019 Presidents Cup at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club for fans interested in an upgraded tournament experience at one of the Melbourne Sandbelt region’s premier courses.