Furyk, Clarke, Els among first-ever World Champions Cup field

The PGA Tour Champions is getting its own team competition in the form of the World Champions Cup.

The inaugural three-way competition between players from the United States, Europe and the rest of the world is slated for Dec. 7-10 at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida.

Jim Furyk, Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland and Ernie Els of South Africa were announced as the initial team captains back in 2021. The World Champions Cup was expected to debut in 2022 before being pushed back to 2023.

ABC and ESPN will air the competition, which will pit teams of PGA Tour Champions players in a series of nine-hole team and singles matches, in a format similar to the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup for men’s golf and the Solheim Cup in women’s golf.

The team that earns the most points after 24 total matches will be declared the winner.

Furyk and Clarke have previously served as Ryder Cup captains for their respective teams. Els was the International team’s captain for the 2019 Presidents Cup.

Charlie Besser, the CEO of sports marketing and events company Intersport, was credited with bringing the idea to the tour 10 years ago.

“The idea was really to build upon the excitement of the Ryder Cup and of the Presidents Cup, to try to bring everybody together, the entire world together in one event, thus the three teams, an International Team, European team and an American team,” Besser told PGATour.com.

“And we all know that the guys who play PGA TOUR Champions have got some serious old scores to settle with each other, and they are excited to get back out there and get after it.”