CLEARWATER, Fla. – You would be forgiven for thinking so Tiger Woods’ highly anticipated press conference at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas was the most exciting golf to happen on this Tuesday in December. it wasn’t. The most entertaining action unfolded in a carpeted conference room at Feather Sound Country Club, here on Florida’s west coast, where eight of European golf’s leading lights from the past three-plus decades presided over a court and happily held the prelude to Skechers World Champions Cup.
The World Champions Cup is a relative newcomer to the professional golf calendar, a three-team (USA, Europe and Rest of the World), three-day competition for the 50-and-over group that is essentially a mix of the Ryder and President’s Cups, albeit with a different format (six balls and sixes!) and a more complicated scoring system. In 2023, the Americans won the inaugural event by a nail-biting 221, while the previous year’s event was canceled due to bad weather. This brings us to the 2025 edition, where, in the all-important Team Vibes category, Europe has – unsurprisingly – taken a commanding lead.
Here was Darren Clarke, the Europe captain, beaming as he entered his team’s Tuesday morning press conference; was one of Clarke’s five team-mates, pony-tailed Spaniard Miguel Ángel Jiménez wearing the European flag as a cape; and, look, that 55-year-old Alex Cejka with his hat turned backwards?! As Colin Montgomerie, who is 62, took to the stage, his teammates groaned in jest and then celebrated when Monty successfully reached the top. This wasn’t a winner’s press conference, but it sure felt like one.
Completing Clarke’s team are Thomas Bjorn and Bernhard Langeralong with vice-captains Soren Kjeldsen and Jesper Parnevik, who took the opportunity of his opening remarks to reveal: “I made all the mistakes I can make this week. I got lost driving here. I couldn’t find the first ball in Sunday’s game with Darren. I couldn’t find the 10th tee yesterday. And I figured out how to work today.”
Parnevik wasn’t the only player confused by the hydraulics. When it was Montgomerie’s turn for an opening statement, he said, “I’d just like to start by asking Jesper how the shower actually works? I haven’t quite figured it out and I’ve been here three days, Christ.”
And so it went. Cracks, jokes, barbs, laughter.
When Clarke mistakenly said his team would be ready to play when the games started on Friday, Parnevik quickly corrected his captain, saying: “I think we’re starting on Thursday.”
“Yeah, Thursday,” Clarke said with a laugh. “Yeah, when Thursday comes, we’re here to try and win this week, make no mistake. We want to maybe do ourselves a bit better than last time and get ourselves in the mix.”
Clarke wasn’t just paying lip service. The boys aren’t here this week just for laughs. Last time – at The Concession Golf Club, an hour’s drive south from here – the event came in a Sunday clash between the American and international sides. The Internationals were in control of their own destiny, but then both Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen dropped their approach shots into a penalty area on the final hole, essentially handing the title to the U.S. “How do you hit a Hail Mary in the last 10 seconds and then hit the inside and hit the World Cup champion’s shot,” Peterman told me Tuesday. the world. “We were in shock.”
While the Americans celebrated, the captains of the other teams – Clarke and Ernie Els – fought.
“Darren was pissed off and Ernie was pissed off. thus angry,” Jacobsen said. “Because it means a lot. There is no age limit for competitive desire. Whether you’re 7 or 57, it doesn’t matter.”
This week, the captain plays in the USA Jim Furyk; his team consists of Stewart Cink, Jerry Kelly, Justin Leonard, Steve Stricker and Jason Caron, and vice captains Steve Flesch and Billy Andrade. International captain Mike Weir will do it alongside Angel Cabrera, KJ Choi, Steve Alker, YE Yang and Mark Hensby; Weir’s assistants are Charlie Wi and Ricardo Gonzalez.
The Americans haven’t let the Europeans have any fun. On Monday night, members of the American team looked like they were staying up past their bedtime. “A lot of drinks for sure to start the week,” Stricker said. “That’s how we finished two years ago and we had a ball.”
Added Justin Leonard: “Need some electrolytes please.”
However you feel about the Silly Season happenings in the window between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s hard not to appreciate the collection of global talent that was on display here Tuesday morning. For golf fans of a certain era, Feather Sound this week feels a little like one of those fantasy baseball camps that populate this area of Florida. But instead of World Series winners, you get great champions. Stroll the property and you might spot YE Yang, who famously upset Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA Championship; or a Masters champion like Mike Weir or Angel Cabrera; or an ageless wonder like 68-year-old Bernhard Langer.
On Tuesday afternoon, Montgomerie had just finished a nine-hole practice round when Langer’s approach to the 9th green nearly hit Monty in the head.
You couldn’t have blamed Montgomerie for being salty, but he laughed it off quickly. There are many of those in this team.
“You’re going to get that in a Ryder Cup environment as well,” Montgomery Greenside told me. “We make fun of each other, we unfriend each other, we piss each other off. We leave our egos behind and we all fight for each other.”
;)
