Seniors biennial event

Senior golf is to have a new, $3 million biennial team event with an inaugural staging at Kiawah Island on November 16th to 18th.

Details of the UBS Warburg Cup were announced in Newcastle, Co Down yesterday in the presence of Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.

Palmer is to be the playing captain of a 12-man US team against a Rest of the World line-up led by Player. And commitments for the American side have already been received from Nicklaus, Curtis Strange, Hale Irwin, Larry Nelson, Mark O'Meara and Raymond Floyd.

Acceptances for the Rest of the World have come from Isao Aoki and Frank Nobilo.

"I'm thrilled to be captain in an event that calls attention to matchplay and the Ryder Cup style of golf," said Palmer.

And in a reference to some of the more distasteful happenings at Brookline in 1999, Player said: "Arnold and I will ensure that the matches are played in the right spirit of the game."

A particularly interesting aspect of the match is that through various qualifying procedures, each team will include six players aged 40 to 49 years. And with the top two in this year's European Order of Merit also qualifying, Denis O'Sullivan will be a leading challenger.