All eyes will very much be on China’s Li Haotong and Wu Ashun who teamed up brilliantly to finish tied for second in Melbourne two years ago. They will forge their partnership again this month and with their form very much intact – both have won on the European Tour this year - much is expected from the dynamic Chinese duo.
“We enjoyed ourselves two years ago. With some luck, we could have won, so we'll go there with the aim to challenge for a win. To have the chance to represent China again makes me very happy and we’ll do our best to make China proud,” said Wu, who won his third European Tour victory in the Netherlands in September.
India’s Anirban Lahiri and the new kid on the block, Shubhankar Sharma, could potentially provide a powerful partnership in the World Cup of Golf as well. Lahiri, now an established PGA TOUR regular, reckons they could potentially become strong partners too for the Presidents Cup which will also be staged at Royal Melbourne in December 2019.
“It’s very special, I’m very excited,” said Lahiri, 31. “Both of us are excited. We made up our minds earlier that if either of us finished on top (of the world ranking to qualify for the World Cup of Golf), we would pick the other. We could be playing a lot of World Cups together, some Olympics together and even the Presidents Cup together. I see the potential of our partnership being over a long period of time. We are very similar in how we play, he’s very consistent, he’s young and fearless.”
Sharma, nine years Lahiri’s junior, echoed the same sentiments. “It’ll be a lot of fun, it’ll be a matter of pride. Anirban has played at the highest stage on the PGA TOUR, he is a great player. He’s influenced me a lot in my career, and I feel it can be a great partnership. If we can get into the Presidents Cup together, that would be the dream.”
Kiradech Aphibarnrat, the first Thai to earn a PGA TOUR card for the 2018-19 season, has picked best friend Prom Meesawat, a two-time Asian Tour winner, as his partner as they attempt to impress at The Metropolitan. Winning the World Cup of Golf for the first time for the Kingdom will have unimaginable consequences for the growth of the game, says Kiradech.
“If we can win the World Cup, it’ll mean a lot. We’re playing for our country. We’re not playing only for ourselves, or for our caddies… we’re playing for 70 million Thai people. We’ve got the Thai flag on our chest. There’ll be more pressure that we have to handle playing for our country. If you win the World Cup, everyone will know you are from that country,” said Kiradech.
