World Cup (men's golf)

The World Cup of Golf is a men's golf tournament contested by teams of two representing their country. Only one team is allowed from each country. The players are selected on the basis of the Official World Golf Ranking, although not all of the first choice players choose to compete. The equivalent event for women was the Women's World Cup of Golf, played from 2005 to 2008.

The tournament was founded by Canadian industrialist John Jay Hopkins, who hoped it would promote international goodwill through golf. It began in 1953 as the Canada Cup and changed its named to the World Cup in 1967. With Fred Corcoran as the Tournament Director and the International Golf Association behind it (1955–77), the World Cup traveled the globe and grew to be one of golf's most prestigious tournaments throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but interest in the event faded to the point that the event was not held in 1981 or 1986.

The tournament was incorporated into the World Golf Championships series from 2000 to 2006. In 2007 it ceased to be a World Golf Championships event, but continued to be sanctioned by the International Federation of PGA Tours.

From 2007 through 2009 the tournament was held at the Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China, receiving the name Mission Hills World Cup. There was no tournament in 2010, it having been announced that the event would change from annual to biennial, held in odd-numbered years, to accommodate the 2016 inclusion of golf at the Olympics. The 2011 tournament was at a new venue — Mission Hills Haikou in the Chinese island province of Hainan.

The United States has a clear lead in wins, with 24 as of 2013.

In 1953, the format was 36 holes of stroke play with the combined score of the two-man team determining the winner. From 1954 to 1999, the format was 72 holes of stroke play. Beginning in 2000, the format became alternating stroke play rounds of bestball (fourball) and alternate shot (foursomes).

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