Why mixed format would breathe new life into World Cup of Golf

The sight of Tiger Woods leaning on his crutches and smiling as he posted the first picture of himself since suffering serious leg injuries in a car crash in February was easily the most popular golf-related social media message over the past few days and rightly so.

Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren celebrate after landing Scotland's first success in the World Cup at the Mission Hills Resort in Shenzhen, China, in 2007. Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images.

Pictured next to his dog, Bugs, at home in Jupiter, Florida, the 14-time major winner joked that his “(three-hole practice) course is coming along faster than I am”, adding of his canine companion: “It’s nice to have a faithful rehab partner, man’s best friend”.

Who knows when we’ll see Woods back in competitive action, and that might not be until next year, but the reaction to his Instagram post was certainly an example of how the 45-year-old continues to move that needle on a different level to anyone else in the sport.

In comparison, a tweet from Thomas Bjorn wouldn’t have attracted much attention at all from the majority of golf fans, but, for me anyway, it was the one that stood out over the same period and, therefore, deserves some scrutiny.

“When you watch the PGA Tour this week,” said the 2018 Ryder Cup-winning captain, referring to the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a two-man team event, “you wonder how the World Cup doesn’t exist anymore. Bring it back as a combined men and women’s event.”

First held in 1953, the World Cup hasn’t been staged since Belgium, represented by Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters, landed the title in Melbourne in 2018, with no plans for it to be restored to the 2021 schedule.

In the 1960s, the event was won four times in five years by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, while other greats of the game, including Tiger Woods Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo, are also on the trophy.

It provided a magical moment for Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren when they joined forces to land a first Scottish success in 2007. Likewise for Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge when they upset the odds to deliver a second Welsh win in 2005 and also for the Molinari brothers, Edoardo and Francesco, when they claimed the title for Italy four years later.

In recent times, it seemed as though the tournament had, unfortunately, lost some of its appeal, both from players, which was partially due to the modern-day schedule, of course, and golf fans.

Bjorn, though, surely must not have been alone in watching last week’s PGA Tour event and seeing the potential for a mixed World Cup being an exciting addition for the game at some point in the near future.

As amateurs, players get the chance to represent their country on a regular basis, yet that rarely happens in the professional ranks and, with no World Cup, not at all at the moment.

Taking Scotland as an example, I’m sure Bob MacIntyre and Gemma Dryburgh, our current top-ranked male and female professionals, would relish the opportunity to join forces over four days in a similar format to the one that delivered an exciting tournament in New Orleans.

Part of golf’s beauty is that it’s an individual sport, meaning the emphasis is on one person to stand up to the demands of playing 72 holes in order to come out on top, with few golfers, of course, having been better at that over the years than the aforementioned Woods.

Seeing someone rise to the challenge coming down the stretch in any tournament but majors in particular is as good as it gets in sport, but the game also needs something a bit different every now and again.

Won by Australian duo Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith, the New Orleans event certainly put smiles on the faces of those taking part - well, certainly when they were playing fourballs but not as much when it was foursomes - and, in turn, that would also have been the case with the TV audience.

Postponed last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Tour is staging a new event, the Scandinavian Mixed hosted by Annika Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson, in Gothenburg in the middle of June.

An individual tournament, it will see 78 men and 78 women go head-to-head for the first time on the same course competing for the same prize fund and same trophy, and that really is an exciting prospect for the game.

It should be the first of many such events and, if an opportunity to resurrect the World Cup under a mixed format either next year or soon afterwards is not grasped, then that would be very disappointing indeed.

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