Colin Montgomerie is out to become the first player since Tiger Woods to retain the Omega Mission Hills World Cup, which starts today.
The 45-year-old, partnered by Marc Warren, helped Scotland to beat the US in a playoff last year to take the World Cup back to the home of golf for the first time.
He returns for his 10th appearance at the tournament alongside Alastair Forysth.
“It took a long time for Scotland to win the World Cup so winning in the playoff at Mission Hills was a wonderful feeling. very, very special,” Montgomerie said.
“I am looking forward immensely to defending the title with Alastair this time around,” he said.
Swedes Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson are the strongest pairing on paper, ranked sixth and 12th in the world, but rankings do not always count for much in team events.
“We have only had one chance to play together before in the Ryder Cup and that worked well,” said Karlsson, this year’s European order of merit winner.
The US have been champions 23 times in the various manifestations of the event over the 54 years since it started as the Canada Cup, but have not won since Tiger Woods and David Duval retained the trophy for their country in 2000.
Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum came as close as a third playoff hole last year and 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis and Brandt Snedeker will represent the US this time around.
“In our sport you do not get the opportunity too many times to compete for your country and this is going to be a thrill for me,” Snedeker said.
Rory Sabbatini was a winner with Trevor Immelman in 2003, one of two occasions the South Africans have triumphed this decade, and he will be back for another crack with Richard Sterne.
Among the other two-man teams representing 28 countries are England’s Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa and Taiwan’s Lin Wen-tang and Lu Wen-teh.
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