The World Golf Championships began 13 years ago in an effort to gather the world's best golfers together more often. Five continents, 11 countries, eight U.S. states and winners from 12 countries later, consider the goal accomplished as the events flourish and expand.
The idea for a series of events including worldwide players and courses surfaced at The Presidents Cup in 1996, the second playing of that international team event. Golf's five world governing bodies -- the European Tour, Japan Golf Tour Organization, PGA TOUR, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour -- reached an agreement there on several key elements designed to create new international events, beginning in 1999. They formed the International Federation of PGA Tours to develop these "significant tournaments."
The schedule of tournaments was announced in October 1997 with three jointly sanctioned championships -- the Accenture Match Play Championship, the NEC Invitational (now Bridgestone Invitational) and the American Express Championship (now Cadillac Championship).
PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem broke down the structure in 1999: "The World Golf Championships were organized in the way they were to primarily do two things: provide competitions at the PGA TOUR level to meet the international interest in the game, from a marketing standpoint; and to provide fans with the opportunity to have the best players from all over the world play against each other several times over the course of the year. Now, when you look at the major golf championships, the World Golf Championships, The Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup, THE PLAYERS Championship, there is a good sprinkling during the course of the year when every top player is in the field.
"And now we have a good number of events that significantly impact the Official World Golf Ranking and, we think, make the rankings even more credible."
American Jeff Maggert won the first event at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif., the Accenture Match Play Championship, nipping Andrew Magee on the 38th hole of the 36-hole championship match when he chipped in for birdie. That dramatic start was followed by Tiger Woods claiming the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, and the Cadillac Championship at Valderrama, Spain, where he beat Spanish veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez in a playoff.
Woods' hot start in the World Golf Championships continued for 11 consecutive years, with at least one win annually through 2009 -- and two wins yearly on five occasions. That totals 16 official titles in the World Golf Championships -- or, 22 percent of his 73 career PGA TOUR victories -- through the summer of 2012. Seven have come at Firestone Country Club in the Bridgestone Invitational (tying a PGA TOUR record for wins at one course) and six at the Cadillac Championship in four countries (Spain, Ireland, England and the United States). The wins have ranged from an 11-stroke romp at the 2000 Bridgestone Invitational to a seven-hole playoff win over Jim Furyk the following year at Firestone to a 25-under total in winning the Cadillac Championship in England in 2002. You could even say he completed the World Golf Championships "Slam" after capturing the first World Cup under that banner in 2000, an unofficial victory in Argentina with teammate David Duval.
Woods' amazing record is accompanied by the great diversity among the winners. Geoff Ogilvy from Australia, Ernie Els from South Africa, Darren Clarke from Northern Ireland and Phil Mickelson and Hunter Mahan from the United States have all won two World Golf Championships titles. Add another Aussie, Adam Scott, to Sweden (Henrik Stenson), England (Ian Poulter and Luke Donald), Canada (Mike Weir), Italy (Francesco Molinari), Germany (Martin Kaymer) and Fiji (Vijay Singh) among the countries represented in the World Golf Championships winner's circle. Teams from Japan and Wales have also joined the international legion with World Cup titles.
The World Cup was a World Golf Championships event from 2000-06. Since then, the HSBC Champions in China was added to the series in 2009 and will become an official victory in 2013. China is the 11th country to host a World Golf Championships event, joining Argentina, Australia, Barbados, China, England, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States.
