How the World Cup works, teams, players for Mission Hills in China

This week is the $7.5m Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China, 28 teams of 2 players, 18 automatic qualifiers, 1 host country (China) and 9 qualifiers.

Also Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and a host of South African and other world pros will contest the South African Open at the beautiful Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate.

Here is how the World Cup works and a list of the teams and their players. Needless to say Ireland with Rory and GMac, England with Poulter and Rose, Germany with Kaymer and Cejka, the USA with Kuchar and Woodland are amongst the favourites.

Canada failed to qualify this year.

Format

The Championship is a 72-hole stroke play team event with each team comprising of two players. The first and third days are four-ball (best ball) play and the second and final days are foursomes play. A total of 28 teams, each one of different nationality, will compete in the 2011 Omega Mission Hills World Cup.

Eligibility:
The Official World Golf Rankings as at July 18, 2011 will determine the 18 leading nations that qualify automatically for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup.The host country (China) receives an automatic qualification.

Players representing each country:
The leading 18 available players, each native-born citizens* of different countries from the World Ranking.The leading player may select any player of his choosing from the same country provided such player was ranked within the top 100 on the Official World Golf Ranking as of either July 18, 2011 or August 22, 2011.

Confirmed Exempt Nations:


Germany – Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka
Ireland - Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell
United States – Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland
South Africa – Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen
England – Ian Poulter and Justin Rose
Sweden – Robert Karlsson and Alex Noren
Italy – Francesco Molinari and Edoardo Molinari
Spain – Alvaro Quiros and Miguel Angel Jiménez
Scotland – Martin Laird and Stephen Gallacher
Denmark – Anders Hansen and Thomas Björn
France – Raphaël Jacquelin and Gregory Bourdy
Japan – Yuta Ikeda and Tetsuji Hiratsuka
Australia – Brendan Jones and Richard Green
Belgium – Nicolas Colsaerts and Jérôme Theunis
Colombia – Camilo Villegas and Manuel Villegas
Wales – Jamie Donaldson and Rhys Davies
Thailand – Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat
Zimbabwe – Brendon de Jonge and Bruce McDonald
China (Host Nation) – Liang Wen-chong and Zhang Xin-jun

Qualifiers

Austria - Roland Steiner and Florian Praegant
Netherlands - Joost Luiten and Robert-Jan Derksen
Portugal -  Hugo and Ricardo Santos
Brazil - Adison Da Silva and Lucas Lee
Guatemala - Pablo Acuna and Jose Toledo
Korea - Kim Hyung-sung and Park Sung-joon
Mexico - Jose Rodriguez and Oscar Serna
New Zealand - Michael Hendry and Gareth Paddison
Singapore - Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat

Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles