- May 1, 2024
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With the inaugural World Champions Cup coming to The Concession Dec. 7, 8 and 10, Team U.S. Captain Jim Furyk was asked whether the Champions Tour players will have the kind of intensity shown at the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup.
Europe's win over the American team in Rome that concluded on Sunday included plenty of tears and a shouting match in a parking lot that featured Rory McIlroy.
Furyk joked that if any physical altercation happens in a Concession parking lot, he won't be involved. He noted that Team Europe Captain Darren Clarke (215 pounds) and Team International Captain Ernie Els (209 pounds) are too bulky for him.
All three captains had a good laugh Tuesday about that one as they had assembled to announce their latest World Champions Cup pick for their team and to promote the event in a Zoom conference call.
However, regional golf fans might be asking a similar question with tickets for the event now on sale at WorldChampionsCup.com. Champions Passes, which allow access to the grounds and various grandstands across the course, start at $40 per day, with prices increasing the week before the tournament.
This is a chance to see legends of golf battling for the first time in an international team format.
Is this serious business or a fun exhibition?
"Exhibition gets thrown around a lot, almost like a negative," Furyk said. "But we can be friendly. Our families know each other and we do things together. But when we get on the golf course, we want to beat each other."
Clarke noted, "This ain't no exhibition."
Jason Langwell, the executive director of the World Champions Cup, said it doesn't get any more serious than the World Champions Cup.
"This will be the fourth global major (along with the Ryder Cup, the President's Cup and the Solheim Cup)," Langwell said. "We are building a legacy event and we need the best of the best."
Three of the top four Champions Tour money winners for this season (Steve Stricker, Bernhard Langer and David Toms) already are committed to the event, which matches U.S., Europe and International teams over three days of competition. Nine players still need to be added to the lineups with big names such as Stephen Ames (No. 3 on the money list), Steven Alker (No. 5), Alex Cejka (No. 6), and Padraig Harrington (No. 7) still in play.
Will fan favorites such as Justin Leonard, Fred Couples and Stewart Cink be included? That remains to be seen.
Langwell said the world is, indeed, interested. He said ESPN and ABC are broadcasting the event and "they only do majors."
He also said The Concession is an amazing host facility.
Furyk and Ells still need to play the course for the first time but Clarke already has checked out the course that drew rave reviews when it hosted a World Golf Championship event in 2021.
"The facility is fabulous," Clarke said. "Everything about it is wonderful. The golf course offers several risk-reward shots and we're going to have opportunities to make birdies."
It will be another chance for the Concession to build its reputation as it makes a bid for a major, such as the PGA Championship, in the future.
The matches will be full 9-hole matches with no close out, such as Ryder Cup match play where the match ends when a team or individual goes up by more holes than are remaining.
“With half of our 18-player field set, we’ve got a group that features World Golf Hall of Famers, major championship winners and guys who have provided some of the biggest highlights from Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups over the last 20-plus years," Langwell said, "Fans are going to be in for a major treat watching many of the game’s best players and legends of golf battle each other for the inaugural World Champions Cup title this December.”
Retief Goosen, a World Golf Hall of Fame member; Colin Montgomerie, who played in eight Ryder Cups and never lost a singles match; and Toms, a 13-time winner on the PGA Tour, were added to the rosters on Tuesday.
