The Ocean Course, the seaside backdrop for the 1991 Ryder Cup, has been chosen as the host for next year’s World Cup of Golf.
Butch Riber, chief executive of the International Golf Association, made the announcement Tuesday.
The event, which Americans Fred Couples and Davis Love III have won the past four years, will feature teams from 32 nations and be played in November. Teams play for prestige, not for money.
This year’s tournament will start Nov. 21 at the Erinvale Golf Club outside of Capetown, South Africa. U.S. Open winner Steve Jones and British Open chaionmp Tom Lehman make up this year’s American team.
Next year’s World Cup will be the 10th held in the United States. Organizers said the event would be broadcast by NBC.
The Ocean Course made a splashy debut with the Ryder Cup matches, but has not held any major golf events since. Pros like Mark Calcavecchia, Ray Floyd and Bernhard Langer continually dunked balls in the water, landed in almost impossible bunkers and had shots swept away by wind.
The U.S. team finally won when Langer missed a 5-foot putt on the last hole of his match with Hale Irwin.
For five years, the course was left to resort goers. In May, LPGA stars Dottie Pepper and Anika Sorenstam matched up on The Ocean Course for Shell’s World of Golf series and course officials promised that more was ahead.
“Having hosted the international golf community at the Ryder Cup in 1991, we are especially looking forward to welcoming another prestigious tournament,” said Tommy Cuthbert, director at golf at Kiawah Island.
Cuthbert said officials have worked to take some of the sting out of The Ocean Course, like widening fairways and lengthening safe landing areas, while maintaining its challenge.
The Ocean Course is also the site of a National Match Play tournament in December that will include PGA Tour winners Clarence Rose, Jim Thorpe and Neal Lancaster.