Just when it seemed all the major sports properties had found TV homes, Nine has announced it will be the official Australian broadcast partner for the 59th Melbourne World Cup of Golf to be held in Melbourne at The Metropolitan Golf Club November 22-25, 2018.
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The PGA Tour and Nine will partner together when the world’s best golfers return to Melbourne’s famed Sandbelt, to battle it out with each other and for national pride, in a bid to be named World Cup champions.
Tom Malone, Nine’s director of sport, said, “Nine and Wide World of Sports are delighted to be partnering with the PGA Tour to broadcast this terrific event. With the world’s best players competing for their country and against each other in a thrilling format, the World Cup of Golf will be the focus of the sporting world in late November.”
The agreement provides Nine with live broadcast rights and replays, with five hours of competition broadcast each day as well as a one-hour highlights program for use on broadcast, social media and 9Now. The Tour will also provide other video clips and features as part of an overall partnership with Nine.
The tournament attracts the best players from around the globe to compete on the world’s most prestigious courses. In its 64-year history, the event has been played 58 times in 25 countries and boasts an unparalleled list of winners that includes 17 World Golf Hall of Fame members. This will be the 59th staging of this event, which has seen players from 16 different countries lift the prestigious trophy.
The 2018 Melbourne World Cup of Golf is a 72-hole, two-man team format, and affords the opportunity for the top players in the game to represent their countries on an international stage. The first and third days of competition are four-ball (best ball) format and the second and final days are foursomes (alternate shot) play.
The 2018 event marks the sixth time in the tournament’s history that it has been played in Australia and the third consecutive in the Melbourne Sandbelt region.
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Top photo: Danish golfer Søren Kjeldsen, who together with Thorbjørn Olesen won the World Cup of Golf when it was last held in Australia in 2016 (credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen)