Golf's World Cup has reached the halfway stage of this year's event. A look back over the years reveals some interesting facts about an event which put Gulf Harbour on the world map ...
* Instituted in 1953, it was originally known as the Canada Cup in memory of its
founder, Canadian philanthropist John Hopkins. The name changed in 1967 to the World Cup of Golf and, since last year, to the EMC World Cup.
* The first cup was won by the Argentine pairing of Roberto De Vicenzo and Antonio Cerda. Australian greats Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle won the following year - the first of three successes for Australia.
* The Gotemba course at the Taiheiyo Club in Japan, where this year's tournament is being played, was opened in April 1977. The 7232-yard course is a par 72. The tournament is being televised in over 140 countries to an audience estimated at more than 200 million.
* This year's winning team will collect $US1 million ($2.39 million) of the $US3 million purse.
* Next year's tournament will be played on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course at Vista Vallarta in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It will be the 14th country to host the event. The par-72 Vista Vallarta course was opened in April this year.
* Tiger Woods is chasing a third title. He and Mark O'Meara won for the US in 1999 and Woods was paired with David Duval when he won again last year.
* Two American pairings have won four times each. The famous twosome of Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were successful in 1963-64 and 1966-67 - losing to South Africans Gary Player and Harold Henning in 1965 - and Fred Couples and Davis Love won four in a row from 1992-95.
* While Ireland, Wales and England have all tasted success, Scotland have never won. It took England until 1998 - at Gulf Harbour - before they lifted the trophy when Nick Faldo and David Carter got home.
* Zimbabweans Mark McNulty and Tony Johnstone are playing together for a record eighth consecutive tournament.
