World Cup of Golf set to tee up

Melbourne, Nov 18 (IANS) Players from around the world will tee it up at the World Cup of Golf at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club from November 21-24.

China’s Liang Wen-chong won the Resorts World Manila Masters on the Asian Tour, Australia’s Adam Scott defeated Matt Kuchar (United States) and Vijay Singh (Fiji) at the Talisker Australian Masters and Japan’s Hideto Tanihara edged World Cup of Golf teammate Ryo Ishikawa on the Japan Golf Tour last week. All of them will represent their countries in the tourney.

Liang’s third Asian Tour win was made even more significant as he decided to donate half of his winnings to victims suffering from the aftermath of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan.

“Before coming over to the Philippines, I was really affected by what I saw of the damage and victims suffering from the aftermath of the Typhoon on TV. I’ve decided to donate 50 percent of my winnings to do my part and support the relief efforts,” said Liang, who took home the winner’s cheque of $135,000.

Scott began the final round at the Talisker Masters with a four-stroke lead over Singh. While Singh fell back Sunday and eventually finished third, Kuchar made a push and at one point held the lead.

A double bogey on the final hole proved to be too much to overcome for Kuchar as Scott ended with a two-stroke win to successfully defend his title. Scott, who also won the Australian PGA Championship a week earlier, will go for his third consecutive victory in Australia this week.

The Japanese team also appears to be in top form. Tanihara, who celebrated his 35th birthday Saturday, edged his World Cup teammate Ishikawa for his 10th Japan Golf Tour title with a victory at the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters. Ishikawa finished one stroke behind Tanihara in a tie for second with Tomohiro Kondo and Masahiro Kawamura.

First played in 1953, the World Cup is one of the oldest golf team events. The field represents 60 players from 34 countries with 13 of the top-50 players set to tee it up.