The 18 seeded nations for the 2001 World Golf Championships-EMC² World Cup have been announced. The United States, represented by the team of Tiger Woods and David Duval, will be looking to defend the title they won last December at Buenos Aires Golf Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Players qualified for this year's EMC² World Cup by virtue of their standings in the Official World Golf Ranking. The highest ranked available players representing 18 countries automatically qualified for the event. The remaining six teams in the field will be determined at the Davidoff Nations Cup, played this week.
The following are the 18 seeded nations.
Number One Seed -- United States
Tiger Woods and David Duval, champions of the 2000 EMC² World Cup, will again represent the United States. Woods, who has won six times around the world in 2001, will be aiming for his sixth World Golf Championships title in nine events. Woods is the top-ranked player in the world, while Duval, the current Open champion, is third.
Number Two Seed -- South Africa
Ernie Els will be representing South Africa for the fifth time. The two-time US Open champion teamed with Wayne Westner to win the World Cup in 1996 when it was held in South Africa. Els will team with current U.S. Open champion, Retief Goosen, his partner in 1993. Goosen will be playing for the fourth time, having tied for 12th in last year's inaugural EMC² World Cup with Darren Fichardt.
Number Three Seed -- Fiji
Vijay Singh will be making his first appearance in the EMC² World Cup. Singh, winner of the 1998 PGA Championship and the 2000 Masters Tournament, will team with Dinesh Chand. Chand won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup on the Japan Golf Tour in May. Fiji has not participated in a World Cup since 1993.
Number Four Seed -- Spain
Sergio Garcia, who earlier this year won the MasterCard Colonial and the Buick Classic on the PGA Tour, earned the fourth seed for Spain. It will be Garcia's first time to play in the EMC2 World Cup. He will team with Miguel Angel Jiménez, who represented Spain in 1990, 1992-94 and last year finished tied for seventh with José Maria Olazábal.
Number Five Seed -- Ireland
Ireland will be represented for the fifth consecutive year by the team of Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley. They teamed together for the first time to win the 1997 World Cup of Golf at Kiawah Island. They have finished no worse than tenth in their four previous appearances. Harrington, who will be representing Ireland for the fifth time, has finished runner-up six times on the European Tour this year. McGinley won the Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open earlier this season.
Number Six Seed -- Canada
Mike Weir and a partner to be announced will represent Canada. Weir has won twice on the PGA Tour, including last year's World Golf Championships-American Express Championship. Last year, he teamed with Glen Hnatiuk to finish tied for 10th in the EMC² World Cup.
Number Seven Seed -- Denmark
Denmark will be represented by Thomas Bjorn and Soren Hansen. Bjorn, who played in the 1996 and 1997 World Cup of Golf, has won six times on The European Tour including earlier this year in the Dubai Desert Classic. Hansen is having a fine year on The European Tour with five top ten finishes including second place at the Omega European Masters and tied for third in the Open de España. Hansen participated in the 1998 World Cup of Golf.
Number Eight Seed -- New Zealand
Michael Campbell's strong play in 2000 has carried over to the 2001 season. In February, he successfully defended his Heineken Classic title, an event co-sanctioned by The European Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia. He will be making his second appearance in the EMC² World Cup, having first played in 1995. Campbell will be partnered by David Smail, who is making his first appearance. Smail began the year by winning the first two events of 2001 on the PGA Tour of Australasia -- the New Zealand Open and the Canon Challenge. The week after his Canon Challenge victory, he finished second to Campbell at the Heineken Classic.
Number Nine Seed -- Argentina
After the team of Tiger Woods and David Duval of the United States, perhaps the biggest story at the 2000 EMC² World Cup was the play of the team from
Argentina -- Angel Cabrera and Eduardo Romero. Their runner-up finish excited a nation. Cabrera is having a wonderful season on the European Tour, having earned his first career European Tour title at the Argentina Open and finishing second at the Volvo PGA Championship. Romero, a seven time winner on The European Tour, posted his best finish of the season at the Benson & Hedges International Open, where he placed tied for seventh.
Number Ten Seed -- Sweden
Niclas Fasth burst into the international spotlight when he finished second to David Duval in the Open Championship. Fasth also finished tied for second in the Murphy's Irish Open, one of five top ten finishes he has recorded this year. Fasth will be representing Sweden for the first time in the EMC² World Cup. Pierre Fulke, Fasth's partner, nearly won the season-opening World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in Melbourne, Australia. The three time European Tour victor made it all the way to the final before losing to Steve Stricker of the United States.
Number 11 Seed -- Japan
This year's home team, Japan, looks to challenge for the title much like Argentina did in 2000. Japan will be represented by Toshi Izawa and Shigeki Maruyama. Izawa earned his sixth career Japan Golf Tour title earlier this year at the Diamond Cup. Among his victories is the 2000 Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters at The Taiheiyo Club. Maruyama became the first Japanese player to win on the PGA Tour since Isao Aoki when he defeated Charles Howell in a playoff earlier this year at the Greater Milwaukee Open. Maruyama will be making his second appearance for Japan, Izawa his first.
Number 12 Seed -- Wales
Phillip Price gained worldwide attention in 2000, finishing tied for second behind Tiger Woods in the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational. He bettered that this year, winning the Algarve Portuguese Open for his second career European Tour title. Price will be paired with European Tour veteran Mark Mouland. Mouland, a two time winner in Europe, will be representing Wales for the eighth time, as will Price.
Number 13 Seed -- Australia
The youngest team in the field, Australia will be represented by 21 year old Adam Scott and 20 year old Aaron Baddeley. Scott won the Alfred Dunhill Championship, an event co-sanctioned by The European Tour and the Southern Africa Tour, in his first start of 2001. Baddeley has already won three times in his career, capturing the Australian Open as an amateur in 1999 and successfully defending his title there after turning pro in 2000. He added the Greg Norman Holden International title earlier this year.
Number 14 Seed -- Scotland
Andrew Coltart will be representing Scotland for the fifth time. He has teamed with five different partners and has never finished outside of the top five. Earlier this year he posted his second career European Tour title, winning The Great North Open. Coltart will be partnered by Andrew Oldcorn, who earlier this year won for the third time on The European Tour at the Volvo PGA Championship.
Number 15 Seed -- England
Ian Poulter will be playing in his second World Golf Championships event when he pairs with Warren Bennett in the EMC² World Cup. Poulter won the
Moroccan Open earlier this year to extend his streak of consecutive years with a European Tour victory to three. Warren Bennett, winner of the 1999 Scottish PGA Championship, will represent England for the first time.
Number 16 Seed -- Zimbabwe
Mark McNulty and Tony Johnstone are becoming a fixture in this event. This will mark the eighth consecutive year that the pair has teamed together. Their first year together, 1994, they finished second. McNulty won twice on the 2001 Southern Africa Tour at the Nashue Nedtel Masters and the Mercedes-Benz South African Open to increase his career total of professional victories to 35. Johnstone won his sixth career European Tour title at the Qatar Masters.
Number 17 Seed -- Paraguay
Paraguay will be represented by Carlos Franco and his brother Angel. Carlos Franco has won three times in three years on the PGA Tour--twice in the Compaq Classic of New Orleans and at the Greater Milwaukee Open. Carlos teamed with Esteban Isasi to finish third in last year's EMC² World Cup. Angel Franco first made headlines in 1993 when he qualified for and won the Nike Dominion Open on the Nike Tour.
Number 18 Seed -- France
Thomas Levet, the first Frenchman to play on the PGA Tour, earned his second career European Tour title earlier this year at the Victor Chandler British Masters. He first won at the 1998 Cannes Open in Europe. Levet will team with Raphaël Jacquelin, who is having the best year of his career with five top-10 finishes on the European Tour. His career best finish came in June when he finished second in the Compass Group English Open.
ABOUT THE EMC² WORLD CUP
The EMC² World Cup is one of four tournaments worldwide that make up the World Golf Championships. The 2001 EMC² World Cup will be played the week of November 13-18 at The Taiheiyo Club's Gotemba Course in Shizuoka, Japan.
This will be the second time that the EMC² World Cup will be contested as a World Golf Championships event. In 2000, Tiger Woods and David Duval,
representing the United States, won at Buenos Aires Golf Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Players will qualify for this year's EMC² World Cup by virtue of their standings in the Official World Golf Ranking. The highest ranked available players representing 18 countries will automatically qualify for the event. In addition, six teams will become eligible via the Davidoff Nations Cup. Each Federation member will determine its own criteria for the selection of the highest ranked player's partner.
This year's EMC² World Cup will be the final of four World Golf Championships events in 2001. The Accenture Match Play Championship, held in January at The Metropolitan Club in Melbourne Australia, finished with Steve Stricker of the United States earning the title, defeating Sweden's Pierre Fulke in the Championship Match. Tiger Woods won his third consecutive NEC Invitational in August at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, USA. The American Express Championship, which was to be held September 10-16 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, was cancelled due to the terrorist attacks on the United States.
