Four-time Major winner Ernie Els will headline the field at the Volvo Golf Champions along with a host of Europe’s most established stars at The European Tour’s ‘Tournament of Champions.’
Meanwhile, record-breaking 20 year old Matteo Manassero will head up the challenge of the next generation competing for an increased prize fund of US$4 million at the Durban Country Club from January 9-12, 2014 with more star players to be announced next week.
Els, a 26-time winner on The European Tour, is joined by Ryder Cup stalwarts Miguel Ángel Jiménez, three-time Major winner Pádraig Harrington, 2011 Open Champion Darren Clarke , eight-time Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie, 17-time European Tour winner Thomas Björn and two time Major champion José María Olazábal. Between them, they have won 142 European Tour titles and have 170 years of experience playing on The European Tour.
By contrast, Italian star Manassero, a four-time winner on the European Tour before his 20th birthday, is one of a talented group of young twenty-somethings looking to emulate the successes of their elders by adding the 2014 Volvo Golf Champions to their CV.
Peter Uihlein , a 24 year old American, is the newly-crowned winner of the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year having won his maiden title at the 2013 Madeira Islands Open - Portugal - BPI and finished 14th in last year's Race to Dubai. Also qualified is 23 year old Frenchman Victor Dubuisson after his stunning win at the Turkish Airlines Open last month along with Korea’s 23 year old Jin Jeong, who won the 2013 Perth International, and Asia’s newest superstar, 24 year old Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who qualified with a win at the Maybank Malaysian Open and leads the 2013 Asian Tour Order of Merit by an unassailable margin.
This exclusive, limited-field event of European winners will also enjoy a substantial head start over their peers at the beginning of the year as they battle it out for their share of the US$4 million prize fund, entry into the other big events such as The Masters, and stake their claim to a place on the 2014 European Ryder Cup team.
Els will be looking for his first Volvo Golf Champions title, having lost out the last two years to his talented young countrymen, Branden Grace (2012) and Louis Oosthuizen (2013), who are both also confirmed in the field.
“I am really looking forward to starting my year at the Volvo Golf Champions at the Durban Country Club," said Els. "I have had some great wins there and I really enjoy the course and it is always extra special to play in front of my home fans. It is going to be a very tough week with so many excellent players in the field but hopefully we will have another fantastic tournament and I will be able to give the crowds something to cheer about come Sunday afternoon.”
Manassero added: “Hopefully I will get off to a better start than I did in the 2013 tournament! I opened with a 75 before playing three great rounds in the 60s and finished top 10. It is the perfect way for me to open my season, playing against such an elite field full of so many amazing champions on a course really suits my game. I hope I can continue how I left off last year and have a great week to kick start my season and give myself the chance to win this very prestigious title.”
Per Ericsson, President of Volvo Event Management, said: "This is a great group of both experienced and young and up and coming players that really illustrates the strength and depth of the European Tour . We are also proud to be offering our customers the once in a lifetime possibility of teaming up with these stars during the Friday of the Championship in Playing with the Pros.”
Guy Kinnings, Global Head of Golf, IMG, the tournament’s co-owners, said: “This is a fantastic group of both the Tour’s global stars and the Tour’s rising stars and should make for an intriguing week. Celebrating the European Tour’s Champions is a great way to start off the year and it will be fascinating to see which generation comes out on top at the 2014 Volvo Golf Champions.”
The Championship is returning for the second consecutive year to the Province of KwaZulu-Natal and to the magnificent Durban Country Club. The Championship is being supported by the Provincial Government’s Department for Economic Develop and Tourism, who began a relationship with the event in 2013 having understood the tourism and business benefits of hosting the Tournament in the Province.
The same week, the World Final of the Volvo World Golf Challenge – Volvo’s global tournament for customers – will be contested in Durban. The World Finalists qualified through local and national tournaments in 38 countries around the world. In what is a genuine ‘money can’t buy’ experience, the top finishers from the World Final get the chance to play together with the stars of The European Tour on the Friday of the Volvo Golf Champions, live on television, in front of a worldwide audience of millions. It’s called ‘Playing with the Pros’ – an opportunity that exists nowhere else in golf.
