Golf has always been amongst the most loved sports around the world and there’s no doubt the fact that slowly and steadily it is making its way into the Elite Group of Football, Basketball and Cricket in terms of Worldwide Popularity. Moreover, there are a number of Golf championships being held around across many parts of the world year-round and the World Golf Championships can certainly be termed as the biggest of them all.
World Golf Championships isn’t just a single event and comprise of four yearly events for the Professional Golfers around the World organized by the International Federation of PGA tours.
History and Background
The Concept of this Championship was Originally Introduced in the late 90s to create a bigger group of Golf tournaments with a Global Profile by inviting most of the High Profile professional Golfers from across the Globe. The idea behind the same was to hold these championships and ensure the Participation from the Professional Golfers on a Regular Basis and not just for the Championships.
Amongst the Four High Profile Tournament comprising the World Golf Championships (Mexico Championship, Dell Match Play, Bridgestone Invitational and HSBC Championship) three have been started in the year 1999. These were the WGC -Mexico Championship, WGC-Dell Match Play and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. On the Other side, HSBC championship was started in 2005 but only got the status for the World Golf Championship by the year 2009 only. The Championships currently attracts most of the high profile Professional golfers from around the world for the Participation and been considered one of the major championships in the Sports History.
Interesting Facts about the World Golf Championships
Jeff Maggert’s Dramatic win in the Inaugural event of the World Golf Championships
While the first event of the WGC was being played during the last week of February in 1999, It was mainly been remembered for the Dramatic win secured by Jeff Maggert who defeated Andrew Magee by chipping into the second extra hole and winning the Coveted Title.
Emission of World Cup Golf from World Golf Championship
It’s quite interesting to know that from the year 2000 to 2006, the Men’s Golf World cup which comprises of top national teams of two players each, was a part of World Golf Championship event. However, the Tournament got omitted from the list in 2007 but is still being held around with a new name called Mission Hills World cup.
The Controversy behind the Venue for WGC
From the year 2000-2006, most of the four events used to get held in the territories of the United States of America and only one or two of them held outside the USA during the period. However, from 2007, it was been decided to hold three of the four events within the territories of the USA and same attracted huge criticism from many professional Golfers including Tiger Woods and Ernie Els.
Still the PGA tour commissioner of that time Tim Finchem pushed the fact that it is in the Monetary Interest of the sport if it’s being held most of the time in the USA only.
Most Successful Players in the WGC
Tiger Woods
The King Of Golf can certainly be quoted as the King of World Golf Championships as well. Although he missed the opportunity of winning all the four WGC events by a whisker, his dominance with 18 title wins can’t be questioned by any means. He was by far, the Best Golfer the Championship has ever witnessed playing and although his life was full of Controversies which also marred his career to some extent, he will always be considered as a legend in the history of WGC.
Dustin Johnson
Dustin Johnson was another player who stamped the Dominance of United States of America on World Golfing history and even in the World Golf Championship; he is the only player in the Championship’s history to win all the Four Major events during his career. Although Tiger woods was still being considered as a more successful player than him in the history, this was one big Milestone that even he wasn’t been able to achieve during the course of his career in WGC and that is what makes Dustin, a special player altogether.
Also Check:
PGA Tour Champions – History, Facts and upcoming Matches
Golf – History, Basic Rules and How to Play the Game
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