PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Oct. 7, 2004 - The 18 exempt nations for the 2004 World Golf Championships-World Cup have been announced. The $4-million event featuring two-man teams from 24 nations around the world will be held November 16-21 at Real Club de Golf de Sevilla in Sevilla, Spain.
Spain is the host country and is looking to win the event for the fifth time in the event's 51-year history. Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jimenez, the 12th and 20th-ranked players in the Official World Golf Ranking respectively, will represent Spain.
Rory Sabbatini and Trevor Immelman of South Africa will attempt to successfully defend the title they won last year at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Resort on Kiawah Island, S.C.
Players qualified for this year's World Cup by virtue of their standings in the Official World Golf Ranking as of Sept. 20. The highest ranked available players representing 18 countries automatically qualified for the event.
The following are the 18 exempt nations listed alphabetically.
Argentina (Angel Cabrera/Eduardo Romero)
Australia (Stephen Leaney/Nick O'Hern)
Austria (Markus Brier/Martin Wiegele)
Denmark (Anders Hansen/Soren Kjeldsen)
England (Paul Casey/Luke Donald)
France (Thomas Levet/Raphael Jacquelin)
Germany (Marcel Siem/Kariem Baraka)
Holland (Maarten Lafeber/Robert-Jan Derksen)
Ireland (Padraig Harrington/Paul McGinley)
Japan (Shigeki Mauryama/Hidemichi Tanaka)
New Zealand (David Smail/Craig Perks)
Paraguay (Carlos Franco/Marco Ruiz)
Scotland (Scott Drummond/Alastair Forsyth)
Spain (Sergio Garcia/Miguel Angel Jimenez)
South Africa (Rory Sabbatini/Trevor Immelman)
Sweden (Fredrick Jacobson/Joakim Haeggman)
United States (Scott Verplank/Bob Tway)
Wales (Phillip Price/Bradley Dredge)
The following three countries qualified at last week’s Asian Nations Cup in Malaysia:
Korea (Shin Yong-Jin/Kim Dae-Sub)
Myanmar (Kyi Hla Han/Soe Kyaw Naing)
Chinese Taipei (Wang Ter Chang/Lu Wei Chih)
The follwing three countires qualified at last week’s Nations Cup in Mexico:
Mexico (Pablo del Olmo/Alejandro Quiroz)
Colombia (Jose Garrido/Manuel Merizalde)
Italy (Allesandro Tadini/Andrea Merstroni)
For more information, visit www.worldgolfchampionships.com
