The US vs. the World

The US vs. the World

Golden Tee's 2nd Annual World Championship will be held in Orlando, Florida from 16-18 November 2003 with defending champions Team USA battling the World Team for the trophy.

The Golden Tee World Championship is a heated, Ryder Cup-style event to be held in 2003 at Friday's Front Row Sports Grill with 16 players in each team.

Last year's winner Team USA will battle the World Team consisting of top players from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, for the title of world champion.

Formerly consisting of top, veteran players, this year the US team is a hybrid of ten seasoned professionals (Golden Tee superstars who have each won tens of thousands of dollars in prizes) and six amateur players who battled fiercely to make the cut. Players in three divisions began competing online in July, culminating in October with a live play-off held in Chicago.

"We wanted to give every Golden Tee player a chance to make the team and this format accomplishes just that," said Elaine Hodgson, President of Incredible Technologies (IT), Golden Tee's creator. "It's great to have everyday players, the backbone of our business, as well as professionals on Team USA."

Over the last few years, an elite group of super-stars has emerged. Five of these mega winners make up the core of Team USA, including defending World Champ Graig Kinzler (an aspiring real-life golf pro recently featured on MTV), 2003 National Champion/team captain Ryan Bourgeois, 2002 National Champion Steve Sobe, 2002 Player of the Year Dean Liakakos, and 2003 Golden Tee Society inductee Jason Matkovich. To other players, these guys are the Golden Tee equivalents of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods.

In addition to providing travel and lodging expenses, IT will be awarding more than $57,000 in cash prizes, with $15,000 going to the world champion. The festivities kick off Sunday night with a welcoming reception at Friday's Front Row honoring the world team players. Team competition takes place all day Monday, with the winning team to be honored during an awards banquet held that evening at 8TRAX, Disney's Pleasure Island. LPGA star Laura Diaz - pictured - will present the championship trophy to the winning team. Laura will also be in attendance Monday afternoon, cheering on the Americans. On Tuesday the 32 players will battle in a fast and furious individual competition for the world title.